•NRLF 


B    3    272    D2D 


WINNERS    IN    LIFE'S   RACE 


THE 


WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE 


OR  THE 


GREAT  BACKBONED  FAMILY. 


BY 


ARABELLA   B.    BUCKLEY, 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  FAIRYLAND  OF  SCIENCE,"  ETC. 


NEW  YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

I,  3,   AND  5   BOND  STREET, 
I883. 


Lib. 


PREFACE. 

ALTHOUGH  the  present  volume,  as  giving  an  account 
of  the  vertebrate  animals,  is  a  natural  sequel  to,  and 
completion  of,  my  former  book,  Life  and  her  Chil- 
dren, which  treated  of  invertebrates,  yet  it  is  a  more 
independent  work,  both  in  plan  and  execution,  than 
I  had  at  first  contemplated. 

This  arises  from  the  nature  of  the  subject.  The 
structure  and  habits  of  the  lower  forms  of  life  are 
sufficiently  simple  to  be  treated  almost  without  refer- 
ence to  geological  history.  When,  however,  I  began 
to  sketch  out  the  lives  and  structure  of  the  vertebrate 
animals,  which  are  so  closely  interlinked  one  with 
another  and  yet  so  sharply  separated  into  groups,  I 
soon  found  that  I  must  carry  my  readers  into  the 
past  in  order  to  give  any  intelligible  account  of  the 
present.  • 

I  have  therefore  endeavoured  to  describe  graphic- 
ally the  early  history  of  the  backboned  animals,  so 
far  as  it  is  yet  known  to  us,  keeping  strictly  to  such 
broad  facts  as  ought  in  these  days  to  be  familiar  to 


vi  PREFACE. 

every  child  and  ordinarily  well-educated  person,  if 
they  are  to  have  any  true  conception  of  Natural 
History.  At  the  same  time  I  have  dwelt  as  fully 
as  space  would  allow,  upon  the  lives  of  such  modern 
animals  as  best  illustrate  the  present  divisions  of  the 
vertebrates  upon  the  earth  ;  my  object  being  rather 
to  follow  the  tide  of  life,  and  sketch  in  broad  outline 
how  structure  and  habit  have  gone  hand-in-hand  in 
filling  every  available  space  with  living  beings,  than 
to  multiply  descriptions  of  the  various  species.  If 
my  younger  readers  will  try  and  become  familiar 
with  the  types  selected,  either  alive  in  zoological 
gardens  or  preserved  in  good  museums,  they  will,  I 
hope,  acquire  a  very  fair  idea  of  the  main  branches 
of  the  Backboned  Family.* 

In  order  to  treat  so  vast  a  subject  simply  and 
within  narrow  limits,  it  has  often  been  necessary  to 
pass  lightly  over  new  and  startling  facts.  I  trust, 
however,  it  will  not  be  inferred  that  such  passages 
have  been  lightly  or  carelessly  written,  for  in  all 
cases  I  have  sought,  and  most  gratefully  acknow- 
ledge, the  assistance  of  some  of  our  best  authorities  ; 
and  I  have  endeavoured  that  what  little  is  said  upon 
difficult  subjects  shall  be  a  true  foundation  for  wider 
knowledge  in  the  future. 

*  Almost  every  animal  mentioned  in  this  book  is  to  be  found  alive 
in  the  London  Zoological  Gardens,  or  stuffed  in  the  British  Museum. 


PREFACE.  vii 

Among  the  many  friends  who  have  rendered  me 
valuable  assistance,  I  cannot  sufficiently  express  my 
obligations  to  Professor  W.  Kitchen  Parker  for  his 
unwearying  kindness  in  explaining  obscure  points  of 
anatomical  structure,  and  to  my  friends  Mr.  Alfred 
R.  Wallace,  Professor  A.  C.  Haddon  of  Dublin,  and 
Mr.  Garnett  of  the  British  Museum,  for  constant 
suggestion  and  encouragement.  I  am  also  indebted 
to  Mr.  J.  P.  Anderson  of  the  British  Museum  for 
aid  in  the  arrangement  of  the  Index. 

The  geological  restorations  given  as  picture- 
headings  (some  of  which  are  here  attempted,  I 
believe,  for  the  first  time)  have  been  most  carefully 
considered,  though  the  exact  forms  of  such  strange 
and  extinct  animals  must  necessarily  be  somewhat 
conjectural.  My  thanks  are  due  to  the  artist,  Mr. 
Carreras,  jun.,  for  the  patience  and  care  with  which 
he  has  followed  my  instructions  regarding  them,  and 
also  to  Mr.  Smit  for  his  masterly  execution  of  the 
frontispiece.* 

I  have  been  asked  why,  in  this  and  the  former 
work,  I  have  not  given  genealogical  tables  to  help 
the  reader  to  follow  the  relations  of  the  various 
groups.  My  reason  is,  that  it  is  impossible  to  con- 

*  The  Figures  in  the  text,  which,  with  exception  of  about  twenty, 
have  all  been  drawn  expressly  for  this  book,  are  the  work  of  the  above- 
mentioned  artists,  together  with  Mr.  Coombe  and  Miss  Suft. 


viii  PREFACE. 

struct  tables  of  this  kind  without  giving  a  false  idea 
of  the  fixity  of  natural  divisions  and  of  the  extent  of 
our  knowledge.  To  men  of  science,  who  know  how 
provisional  such  tables  are,  they  have  a  certain  value, 
but  they  would  be  positively  harmful  in  a  work  of  this 
kind,  which  will  have  fully  accomplished  its  purpose 
if  it  only  awakens  in  young  minds  a  sense  of  the 
wonderful  interweaving  of  life  upon  the  earth,  and  a 
desire  to  trace  out  the  ever-continuous  action  of  the 
great  Creator  in  the  development  of  living  beings. 

ARABELLA  B.  BUCKLEY. 


LONDON,  September  1882. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 


PAGE 

THE  THRESHOLD  OF  BACKBONED  LIFE       .        .  .          i 


CHAPTER  II. 

HOW   THE   QUAINT   OLD    FlSHES    OF   ANCIENT    TlMES    HAVE 

LIVED  ON  INTO  OUR  DAY 2O 

PICTURE-HEADING — Ideal  restoration  of  Plerygotus,  the  huge  extinct 
sea-scorpion  nine  feet  long ;  with  the  earliest  known  fish  Pteraspis, 
Cephalaspis,  and  small  shark  -  like  animals  swimming  among  Stone- 
lilies,  Trilobites,  etc.  (From  various  sources.) 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  BONY  FISH,  AND  HOW  THEY  HAVE  SPREAD  OVER  SEA, 

AND  LAKE,  AND  RIVER 43 

PICTURE-HEADING — Restorations  of  O smeroides  and  Beryx,  the  earliest 
known  bony  fishes  living  in  the  Cretaceous  Period.  (From  well-known 
figures. ) 

CHAPTER  IV. 

How  THE  BACKBONED  ANIMALS  PASS  FROM  WATER-BREATH- 
ING TO  AIR-BREATHING,  AND  FIND  THEIR  WAY  OUT 
UPON  THE  LAND  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  7° 

PICTURE-HEADING — A  Carboniferous  Forest  with  ancient  Amphibians 
(Labyrinthodonts).  In  the  water  Baphetes  ;  on  land  Dendrerpeton, 
ffylonomus,  and  Hylerpeton.  (Animals  taken  from  Dawson's  Air- 
Breathers  of  the  Coal.) 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PAGE 

THE  COLD-BLOODED  AIR-BREATHERS  OF  THE  GLOBE  IN 

TIMES  BOTH  PAST  AND  PRESENT 89 

PICTURE-HEADING— Reptiles  of  the  Cretaceous  Period.  On  land  Ign- 
anodon,  20  feet  high,  attacked  by  Megalosaurus ;  in  the  air  Ptero- 
dactyls, or  flying  lizards  ;  in  the  water  Ichthyosaurus,  Mosasaurus, 
and  Teleosaurus,  with  Plesiosaurus  in  the  background.  (From  various 
sources.) 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  FEATHERED  CONQUERORS  OF  THE  AIR — PART  I.  THEIR 

WANDERINGS  OVER  SEA  AND  MARSH,  DESERT  AND  PLAIN       1 23 

PICTURE-HEADING — Toothed  Water-birds  of  the  Cretaceous  Period. 
Swimming  and  standing,  Hesperornis ;  flying,  Ichthyornis.  (Re- 
stored from  Marsh's  Skeletons.) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  FEATHERED  CONQUERORS  OF  THE  AIR — PART  II.  FROM 
RUNNING  TO  FLYING,  FROM  MOUND-LAYING  TO  NEST- 
BUILDING,  FROM  CRY  TO  SONG  153 

PICTURE  -HEADING— A  rch&opteryx,  the  lizard  -  tailed  land-bird  with 
teeth.  (Restored  from  figures  of  the  British  Museum  and  German 
specimens.) 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  MAMMALIA  OR  MILK-GIVERS,  THE  SIMPLEST  SUCKLING 
MOTHER,  THE  ACTIVE  POUCH-BEARERS,  AND  THE  IM- 
PERFECT-TOOTHED ANIMALS  .  *  .  .  .  181 

PICTURE-HEADING— Scene  in  the  Triassic  Period,  with  small  Marsu- 
pials Microlestes,  whose  remains  are  found  earlier  than  the  toothed 
birds.  (Restored  conjecturally  from  the  nearest  living  representative, 
Myrmecobius.)  In  the  water  large  swimming  reptiles. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

PAGE 

FROM  THE  LOWER  AND  SMALL  MILK-GIVERS  WHICH  FIND 
SAFETY  IN  CONCEALMENT,  TO  THE  INTELLIGENT  APES 
AND  MONKEYS 209 

PICTURE-HEADING— Ideal  forms  of  the  early  Herbivora  and  Carnivora. 
In  the  foreground  Paleotherium,  Anoplotkerium,  and  Eohippus  (this 
last  only  restored  conjecturally) ;  in  the  background,  Xipkodon  and 
Arctocyon  (this  last  also  only  an  approximation) ;  on  the  tree,  a  small 
lemur  ;  and  in  front,  a  hedgehog. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  LARGE  MILK-GIVERS  WHICH  HAVE  CONQUERED  THE 

WORLD  BY  STRENGTH  AND  INTELLIGENCE  .         .         .       256 

PICTURE-HEADING — Animals  which  lived  in  Europe  during  the  warm 
periods  before  the  Glacial  Cold.  On  the  right,  Deinotherium,  Mas- 
todon; in  background,  Helladotherium,  ancient  giraffes;  on  the 
left,  Hippopotamus,  Tapir,  Rhinoceros,  Hyeena. ;  in  the  tree,  Pithe- 
cus  pentelicus.  All  these  animals,  except  the  giraffe,  were  living  in 
England  in  the  late  Tertiary  Period.  (From  various  sources.) 


CHAPTER  XL 

How  THE  BACKBONED  ANIMALS  HAVE  RETURNED  TO  THE 

WATER,  AND  LARGE  MILK-GIVERS  IMITATE  THE  FISH  .       299 

PICTURE-HEADING— An  ideal  scene  of  Europe  in  the  Glacial  Period 
with  the  "  Hairy  Mammoth"  in  the  foreground. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

A  BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  OF  THE  RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF  BACK- 
BONED LIFE 333 

PICTURE-HEADING— Man  as  he  lived  in  caves  after  the  Glacial  Period, 
among  animals  of  species  many  of  them  now  extinct— the  cave  bear 
(Ursus  spelaus),  cave  lion,  cave  hyaina  (Hyeena  spelcea),  elk,  musk- 
sheep  (Ovibos  moschatus),  mammoth  (Elepkas  primigenuts),  and  the 
sabre-toothed  tiger  (Mackairodus),  fighting  with  the  man. 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PICTURE-HEADINGS  described  under  "  Contents." 

Frontispiece.  FISH  OF  THE  DEEP  SEA — i.  Chauliodus,  one  foot  long  ; 
2,  9,  10,  II.  Harpodon  or  Bombay  Duck,  six  inches  ;  3.  Plagio- 
dus,  six  feet ;  4.  Chiasmodus,  one  foot,  with  Scopelus  in  its 
stomach  ;  6.  Beryx,  one  foot  and  a  half;  8.  Scopelus,  one  foot. 

PAGE 

The  Lancelet,  Amphioxus  lanceolatus      .         .          .          ..11 

Sea-Squirt  or  Ascidian .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .14 

Lamprey  and  Ammoccetes      .          .          .          .          .          .          .16 

Structure  of  Minnow  and  Living  Fish      .....        23 

The  Blue  Shark 29 

The  Sturgeon,  Acipenser  sturio       .          .          .          .          .          .31 

The  Sturgeon's  Head  and  Feelers 32 

The  Ceratodus  of  Queensland         ......        34 

Remoras  clinging  to  a  Shark  .          .          .          .          .         .51 

Flying-Fish  pursued  by  the  Dorado          .          .          .  .        54 

The  Fishing  Frog,  Lophius  piscatorius     .          .         .          .          •        59 

The  common  Sole,  Solea  vulgaris  .         .          .          .          .         .61 

The  Hippocampus  or  Sea-Horse    ......        63 

Sticklebacks  and  their  Nest,  Gasterosteus  actileatus   .         .     to  face  65 
Metamorphosis  of  the  Frog    .          .          .          .          .          .          .72 

The  common  smooth  Newt,  Lissotriton  punctatus     .          .          .78 
Proteus  of  the  Carniola  Caverns      .          .  .  -79 

The  Axolotl  and  Amblystoma         ......        80 

The  Flying  Tree-Frog  of  New  Guinea,  Rhacophorus  Rheinhardti       86 
The  Tortoise 96 


xiv  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

•PAGE 

Carapace  of  the  Tortoise        .         .         .         .         .         .         .       98 

Back  of  a  young  Tortoise       .          .          .          .          .          .  .  99 

Skeleton  of  a  Lizard 103 

Gecko  and  Chamseleon  .          .          .          .          .          .          .105 

The  Nile  Crocodile 108 

Skeleton  of  a  Snake      .         •          .          .          ,          .          .          .      1 1 1 
Common  Ringed  Snake          .          .          .          .          .          .          .113 

The  Boa  Constrictor 115 

The  Cobra  di  Capello 1 1 8 

Jaw  of  a  Rattlesnake     .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .119 

Common  English  Viper,  Pelias  bents       .          .          .          .          .121 

The  Sparrow        .          .         .          .          .          .          .          .          .125 

Skeleton  of  a  Sparrow  .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .126 

The  Adjutant  Bird         .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .128 

The  Ostrich  at  full  Speed 137 

The  Giant  Moa  and  Tiny  Apteryx .         .         .         .         .          .140 

A  Group  of  Sea-Birds  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .144 

Albatrosses  and  Penguins       .          . .        .          .          .          .          .147 

A  Group  of  Wading  Birds      .          .          .          .          .          .          .149 

The  Flamingo 150 

Brush  Turkeys  and  their  Egg  Mounds 158 

Wood-pigeon  on  her  Nest      ...         .         .         .         .         .160 

The  great  green  Woodpecker,  Gecimis  viridis  .         .          .         .163 

The  Kingfisher,  Alcedo  ispida          .          .          .          .          .          .166 

Nest  of  the  Common  Wren,  Troglodytes  parvuhis     .          .          .171 

Nest  of  the  Tailor-Bird 173 

Eagle  bringing  Food  to  its  Young .          .          .          .          .          .175 

Jaw  of  Dromatherium,  and  Tooth  of  Microlestes       .          .          .183 
The  Duckbilled  Platypus  and  the  Echidna       .         .         .         .188 

Head  and  Feet  of  Ornithorhynchus 189- 

Australian  Marsupials   .          .          .          .          .          .          .  193 

Tasmanian  Marsupials  .          .          .          .          .          .          .197 

South  American  Marsupials  and  imperfect-toothed  Animals        .     200 
African  imperfect-toothed  Animals  .....     202 

Skulls  of  an  Insect-Eater  and  a  Rodent  .         .         .          .         .217 


LIST  OF  ILL  USTRA  TIONS.  xv 

PAGE 

A  Group  of  Insect-Eaters       .......     220 

A  Group  of  Rodents     .         .         «         .         .         .         .         .221 

The  Pyrenean  Desman .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .226 

The  Beaver  .........     227 

The  Taguan  and  the  Colugo .          .          .          .          .          .  231 

Skeleton  of  a  Bat  ........     233 

A  Bat  Walking 235 

Fruit-Bats  hanging  in  a  Mauritius  Cave  .          .          .          .          .238 

Aye-aye  and  Lemur       ........      244 

Woolly  Monkey  and  Child     .          .          .          .          .          ...      247 

The  Gorilla  at  Home .      254 

The  Babirusa,  a  double-tusked  Hog        .....      262 

Skeleton  of  a  Wild  Ass 266 

The  Camel .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .270 

The  Red-deer  with  branching  Antlers      .          .          .          .          .     272 

A  Buffalo  Cow  defending  her  Calf.          .....      274 

The  Elephant       .........     277 

The  Weasel 280 

The  Ichneumon    .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .281 

The  Wolf 283 

The  Tiger 287 

The  Claw  of  the  Cat  or  Tiger 289 

The  Polar  Bear  and  Walrus  .  *  .          .          .          .          .294 

The  Sea  Otter      .         . 302 

Skeleton  of  the  Sea  Lion        .......      304 

Sea  Lion  and  Seal 306 

Sea  Lions  on  the  Watch  for  Wives  .          .          .          .          .311 

The  Manatee        .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .314 

Skeleton  of  a  Whale  and  Mouth 318 

Whale  suckling  her  Young     .          .          .          .          .          .         •     319 

The  Porpoise        .........     324 

The  Sperm  Whale         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .327 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  THRESHOLD  OF  BACKBONED  LIFE. 

LIFE,  life,  everywhere  life  !  This  was  the  cry  with 
which  we  began  our  history  of  the  lowest  forms  of 
Life's  children,  and  although  we  did  not  then  pass 
on  to  the  higher  animals,  is  it  not  true  that  before 
we  reached  the  end  we  were  overwhelmed  with  the 


2  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

innumerable  forms  of  living  beings  ?  The  micro- 
scopic lime  and  flint  builders,  the  spreading  sponges, 
the  hydras,  anemones,  corals,  and  jelly-fish  filled 
the  waters  ;  the  star-fish,  sea-urchins,  crabs,  and 
lobsters  crowded  the  shores  ;  the  oysters,  whelks,  and 
periwinkles,  with  their  hundreds  of  companions, 
struggled  for  their  existence  between  the  tides  ;  while 
in  the  open  sea  thousands  of  crustaceans  and  mol- 
luscs, with  cuttle-fish  and  terribly-armed  calamaries, 
roamed  in  search  of  food.  Upon  the  land  the  snails 
and  slugs  devoured  the  green  foliage,  while  the  vast 
army  of  insects  filled  every  nook  and  cranny  in  the 
water,  on  the  land,  or  in  the  air.  Yes  !  even  among 
these  lower  forms  we  found  creatures  enough  to  stock 
the  world  over  and  over  again  with  abundant  life,  so 
that  even  if  the  octopus  had  remained  the  monarch 
of  the  sea,  and  the  tiny  ant  the  most  intelligent 
ruler  on  the  land,  there  would  have  been  no  barren 
space,  no  uninhabited  tracts,  except  those  burning 
deserts  and  frozen  peaks  where  life  can  scarcely 
exist. 

Yet  though  the  world  might  have  been  full  of  these 
creatures,  they  would  not  have  been  able  to  make  the 
fullest  use  of  it,  for  all  animal  life  would  have  been 
comparatively  insignificant  and  feeble,  each  creature 
moving  within  a  very  narrow  range,  and  having  but 
small  powers  of  enjoyment  or  activity.  With  the 
exception  of  the  insects,  by  far  the  greater  number 
would,  during  their  whole  lives,  never  wander  more 
than  a  few  yards  from  one  spot,  while,  though  the 
locust  and  the  butterfly  make  long  journeys,  yet  the 
bees  and  beetles,  dragon-flies  and  ants,  would  not 
cross  many  miles  of  ground  in  several  generations. 


THE  THRESHOLD  OF  BACKBONED  LIFE.   3 

What  a  curious  world  that  would  have  been  in 
which  the  stag-beetle  and  the  atlas-moth  could  boast 
of  being  the  largest  land  animals,  except  where  perhaps 
some  monster  land  snail  might  bear  them  company ; 
while  cuttle-fish  and  calamaries  would  have  been  the 
rulers  of  the  sea,  and  the  crabs  and  lobsters  of  the 
shores  !  A  strangely  silent  world  too.  The  grass- 
hopper's chirp  as  he  rubbed  his  wings  together,  the 
hum  of  the  bee,  the  click  of  the  sharp  jaws  of  the  grub 
of  the  stag-beetle,  eating  away  the  trunk  of  some  old 
oak  tree,  would  have  been  among  the  loudest  sounds 
to  be  heard  ;  and  though  there  would  have  been  plenty 
of  marvellous  beauty  among  the  metallic -winged 
beetles,  the  butterflies,  and  the  delicate  forms  of  the  sea, 
yet  amid  all  this  lovely  life  we  should  seek  in  vain  for 
any  intelligent  faces, — for  what  expression  could  there 
be  in  the  fixed  and  many-windowed  eye  of  the  ant 
or  beetle,  or  in  the  stony  face  of  the  crab  ? 

These  lower  forms,  however,  were  not  destined  to 
have  all  the  world  to  themselves,  for  in  ages,  so  long 
ago  that  we  cannot  reckon  them,  another  division  of 
Life's  children  had  begun  to  exist  which  possessed 
advantages  giving  it  the  power  to  press  forward  far 
beyond  the  star-fish,  the  octopus,  or  the  insect.  This 
was  the  Backboned  division,  to  which  belong  the  fish 
of  our  seas  and  rivers  ;  the  frogs  and  toads,  snakes, 
lizards,  crocodiles,  and  tortoises  ;  the  birds  of  all 
kinds  and  sizes  ;  the  kangaroos  ;  the  rats,  pigs,  ele- 
phants, lions,  whales,  seals,  and  monkeys. 

Is  it  possible,  then,  that  all  these  widely  different 
creatures,  which  are  fitted  to  live  not  only  in  all 
parts  of  the  land,  but  also  in  the  air  above,  and  the 
seas  and  rivers  below,  and  which  are,  in  fact,  all  those 


4  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

popularly  known  as  "  animals,"  only  form  one  division 
out  of  seven  in  the  real  animal  kingdom  ? 

Can  it  be  true  that  while  the  chalk-builders  have 
one  division  all  to  themselves,  the  sponges  forming  a 
transition  group,  the  lasso-throwers  another  division, 
the  prickly-skinned  animals  a  third,  the  mollusca  a 
fourth,  the  worms  a  fifth,  and  the  insects  a  sixth, 
yet  the  innumerable  kinds  of  birds  and  beasts,  rep- 
tiles and  fishes,  are  all  sufficiently  alike  to  be  in- 
cluded in  one  single  division — the  seventh  ?  It  seems 
at  first  as  if  this  arrangement  must  be  unequal  and 
unnatural ;  but  let  us  go  back  for  a  moment  to  the 
beginning,  and  we  shall  see  that  it  is  not  only  true, 
but  that  quite  a  new  interest  attaches  to  the  higher 
animals  when  we  learn  how  wonderfully  life  has  built 
up  so  many  different  forms  upon  one  simple  plan. 

Starting,  then,  with  the  first  glimmerings  of  life, 
we  find  the  minute  lime  and  flint  builders,  without 
any  parts,  making  the  utmost  of  their  little  lives, 
filling  the  depths  of  the  sea,  and  wandering  in  pools 
and  puddles  on  the  land  ;  acting,  in  fact,  as  scavengers 
for  such  matter  as  is  left  them  by  other  animals.  But 
here  their  power  ends  ;  to  take  a  higher  stand  in  life  a 
more  complicated  creature  is  needed,  and  the  sponge- 
animal,  with  its  two  kinds  of  cells  and  its  numerous 
eggs,  is  the  next  step  leading  on  to  the  curious  divi- 
sion of  lasso-throwers.  These,  in  their  turn,  do  their 
utmost  to  spread  and  vary  in  a  hundred  different 
ways.  Possessed  of  a  good  stomach,  of  nerves, 
muscles,  powerful  weapons,  and  means  for  producing 
eggs  and  young  ones,  they  fill  the  waters  as  hydras, 
sea-firs,  jelly-fish,  anemones,  and  corals.  But  here 
they  too  find  their  limit,  and,  without  advancing 


THE  THRESHOLD  OF  BACKBONED  LIFE.   5 

any  farther,  continue  to  flourish  in  their  lowly  fashion. 
Meanwhile  the  tide  of  life  is  flowing  on  in  two  other 
channels,  striving  ever  onwards  and  upwards.  On 
the  one  hand,  the  walking  star-fish  and  sea-urchin 
push  forward  into  active  life  under  the  sea,  form- 
ing, with  their  relations,  a  strange  and  motley  group, 
but  one  which  could  scarcely  be  moulded  into  higher 
and  more  intelligent  beings.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
oyster  and  his  comrades,  with  their  curious  mantle- 
working  secret  protect  their  soft  body  within  by  a 
shelly  covering,  and  by  degrees  we  arrive  at  the 
large  army  of  mollusca,  headed  by  the  intelligent 
cuttle-fish.  And  here  this  division  too  ceases  to 
advance.  The  soft  body  in  its  shelly  home  does 
not  lend  itself  to  wide  and  great  changes,  and  it 
was  left  for  other  channels  to  carry  farther  the  swell- 
ing tide  of  life.  These  take  their  rise  in  the  lowly, 
insignificant  division  of  the  worms,  which  may,  per- 
haps, have  had  something  to  do  with  the  earliest 
forms  even  of  the  star-fish  and  mollusca,  but  which 
soon  shot  upwards,  on  the  one  hand  along  a  line  of 
its  own,  while,  on  the  other,  we  have  seen*  how,  in 
its  many-ringed  segments,  each  bearing  its  leg-like 
bristles  and  its  line  of  nerve-telegraph,  the  worm 
foreshadowed  the  insects  and  Crustacea,  or  ihejointed- 
footed  animals  of  sea  and  land,  forming  the  sixth 
division. 

Here  surely  at  last  we  must  have  reached  animals 
which  will  answer  any  purposes  life  can  wish  to  ful- 
fil. We  find  among  them  numberless  different  forms, 
spreading  far  and  wide  through  the  water  and  over 
the  land,  and  it  would  seem  as  if  the  sturdy  crab  and 

*  Life  and  her  Children,  p.  135. 


6  THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

fighting  lobster  need  fear  no  rival  in  the  sea,  while  the 
intelligent  bee  and  ant  were  equal  to  any  emergency 
on  dry  ground.  But  here  the  tide  of  life  met  with 
another  check.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
jointed-footed  animals,  whether  belonging  to  land  or 
water,  carry  their  solid  part  or  skeleton  outside  them  ; 
their  body  itself  is  soft,  and  cased  in  armour  which 
has  to  be  cast  off  and  formed  afresh  from  time  to 
time  as  they  grow.  For  this  reason  they  are  like 
men  in  armour,  heavily  weighted  as  soon  as  they 
grow  to  any  size,  while  the  body  within  cannot  be- 
come so  firmly  and  well  knit  together  as  if  all  the 
parts,  hard  and  soft,  were  able  to  grow  and  enlarge 
in  common.  And  so  we  find  that  large-sized  armour- 
covered  animals,  such  as  gigantic  crabs  and  lob- 
sters, are  lumbering  unwieldy  creatures,  in  spite  of 
their  strength,  while  the  nimble  intelligent  insects, 
such  as  the  ant  and  bee,  are  comparatively  small 
and  delicate. 

It  would  be  curious  to  try  and  guess  what  might 
have  happened  if  the  ant  could  have  grown  as  large 
as  man,  and  built  houses  and  cities,  and  wandered 
over  wide  spaces  instead  of  being  restricted  to  her 
ant-hills  for  a  home,  and  few  acres  for  her  kingdom  ; 
but  she  too  has  found  the  limit  of  her  powers  in  the 
impossibility  of  becoming  a  large  and  powerful  crea- 
ture. Thus  it  remained  for  Life  to  find  yet  another 
channel  to  reach  its  highest  point,  by  devising  a  plan 
of  structure  in  which  the  solid  skeleton  should  be — 
not  a  burden  for  the  soft  body  to  carry,  as  in  the 
sea-urchins,  snails,  insects,  and  crabs — but  an  actual 
support  to  the  whole  creature,  growing  with  it  and 
forming  a  framework  for  all  its  different  parts. 


THE  THRESHOLD  OF  BACKBONED  LIFE.   ^ 

This  plan  is  that  of  the  backboned  animals.  They 
alone,  of  all  Life's  children,  have  a  skeleton  within  their 
bodies  embedded  in  the  muscular  flesh,  and  formed,  not 
of  mere  hardened,  dead  matter,  but  of  bones  which  have 
blood-vessels  and  nerves  running  through  them,  so  that 
they  grow  as  the  body  grows,  and  strengthen  with  its 
strength.  This  is  a  very  different  thing  from  a  mere 
outer  casing  round  a  soft  body,  for  it  is  clear  that 
an  animal  with  a  living  growing  skeleton  can  go  on 
increasing  in  size  and  strength,  and  its  framework 
will  grow  with  the  limbs  in  any  direction  most  use- 
ful to  it. 

Here,  then,  we  have  one  of  the  secrets  why  the 
backboned  animals  have  been  able  to  press  forward 
and  vary  in  so  many  different  ways  ;  and  especially 
useful  to  them  has  been  that  gristly  cord  stretching 
along  the  back,  which  by  degrees  has  become  hard- 
ened and  jointed,  so  as  to  form  that  wonderful  piece 
of  mechanism,  the  backbone. 

Look  at  any  active  fish  darting  through  the  water 
by  sharp  strokes  of  its  tail, — watch  the  curved  form 
of  a  snake  as  it  glides  through  the  grass,  or  the 
graceful  swan  bending  his  neck  as  he  sails  over  the 
lake, — and  you  will  see  how  easily  and  smoothly  the 
joints  of  the  backbone  must  move  one  upon  the 
other.  Then  turn  to  the  stag,  and  note  how  jauntily 
he  carries  his  heavy  antlers  ;  look  at  the  powerful 
frame  of  the  lion,  watch  an  antelope  leap,  or  a 
tiger  bound  against  the  bars  of  his  cage,  and  you 
will  acknowledge  how  powerful  this  bony  column 
must  be  which  forms  the  chief  support  of  the  body, 
and  carries  those  massive  heads  and  those  strong 
and  lusty  limbs. 


8  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

Nor  is  it  only  by  its  flexibility  and  strength  that 
this  jointed  column  is  such  an  advantage  to  its  pos- 
sessors ;  the  backbone  has  a  special  part  to  play  as 
the  protector  of  a  most  valuable  and  delicate  part  of 
the  body.  We  have  already  learnt  in  Life  and  her 
Children  to  understand  the  importance  of  the  nerve- 
telegraph  to  animals  in  the  struggle  for  life.  We 
found  its  feeble  beginnings  in  the  jelly-fish  and  the 
star-fish  ;  we  saw  it  spreading  out  over  the  body  of 
the  snail ;  we  traced  it  forming  a  line  of  knots  in  the 
worm,  with  head-stations  round  the  neck,  which  be- 
came more  and  more  powerful  in  the  intelligent 
insects.  But  in  all  these  creatures  the  stations  of 
nerve-matter  from  which  the  nerves  run  out  into  the 
body  are  merely  embedded  in  the  soft  flesh,  and 
have  no  special  protection,  with  the  exception  of  a 
gristly  covering  in  the  cuttle-fish.  We  ourselves, 
and  other  backboned  animals,  have  unprotected  nerve- 
stations  like  these  in  the  throat,  the  stomach,  and  the 
heart,  and  cavity  of  the  body.  But  we  have  some- 
thing else  besides,  for  very  early  in  the  history  of  the 
backboned  animals  the  gristly  cord  along  the  back 
began  to  form  a  protecting  sheath  round  the  line  of 
nerve-stations  stretching  from  the  head  to  the  tail, 
so  that  this  special  nerve-telegraph  was  safely  shut 
in  and  protected  all  along  its  course. 

A  careful  examination  of  the  backbone  of  any 
fish,  after  the  flesh  has  been  cleared  off,  will  show 
that  on  the  top  of  each  joint  (or  vertebra}  of  the 
backbone  is  a  ring  or  arch  of  bone ;  and  when 
all  the  joints  are  fastened  together,  these  rings 
form  a  hollow  tube  or  canal,  in  which  lies  that 
long  line  of  nervous  matter  called  the  spinal  cord. 


THE  THRESHOLD  OF  BACKBONED  LIFE.   9 

which  thus  passes,  well  protected,  all  along  the  body, 
till,  when  it  reaches  the  head,  it  becomes  a  large 
mass  shut  safely  in  a  strong  box,  the  skull,  where  it 
forms  the  brain. 

Here,  then,  besides  the  unprotected  nerve-stations, 
we  have  a  much  more  perfect  nerve -battery,  the 
spinal  cord,  carried  in  a  special  sheath  formed  of  the 
arches  of  the  backbone,  which  is  at  once  strong  and 
yielding,  so  that  the  delicate  telegraph  is  safe  from 
all  ordinary  danger.  Now  when  we  remember  how 
important  the  nerves  are, — how  they  are  the  very 
machinery  by  which  intelligence  works,  so  that  with- 
out them  the  eye  could  not  see,  the  ear  hear,  nor  the 
animal  have  any  knowledge  of  what  is  going  on  around 
it, — we  see  at  once  that  here  was  an  additional  power 
which  might  be  most  valuable  to  the  backboned  divi- 
sion. And  so  it  has  proved,  for  slowly  but  surely 
through  the  different  classes  of  fish,  amphibia  (frogs 
and  newts),  reptiles,  birds,  and  mammalia,  this  cord, 
especially  that  larger  portion  of  it  forming  the  brain, 
has  been  increasing  in  vigour,  strength,  and  activity, 
till  it  has  become  the  wonderful  instrument  of 
thought  in  man  himself. 

We  see,  then,  that  our  interest  in  the  backboned 
or  vertebrate  animals  will  be  of  a  different  kind  from 
that  which  we  found  in  the  boneless  or  invertebrate 
ones.  There  we  watched  Life  trying  different  plans, 
each  successful  in  its  way,  but  none  broad  enough 
or  pliable  enough  to  produce  animals  fitted  to  take 
the  lead  all  over  the  world.  Now  we  are  going  to 
trace  how,  from  a  more  promising  starting-point,  a 
number  of  such  different  forms  as  fish,  reptile,  bird, 
and  four-footed  beast,  have  gradually  arisen  and 
2 


io  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

taken  possession  of  the  land,  the  water,  and  the  air, 
pressing  forward  in  the  race  for  life  far  beyond  all 
other  divisions  of  animal  life. 

On  the  one  hand,  these  forms  are  all  linked 
together  by  the  fact  that  they  have  a  backbone  pro- 
tecting a  nerve-battery,  and  that  they  have  never 
more  than  two  pair  of  limbs  ;  while  every  new  dis- 
covery shows  how  closely  they  are  all  related  to 
each  other.  On  the  other  hand,  they  have  made 
use  of  this  backbone,  and  the  skeleton  it  carries, 
in  such  very  different  ways  that  out  of  the  same 
bones  and  the  same  general  plan  unlike  creatures 
have  been  built  up,  such  as  we  should  never  think 
of  classing  together  if  we  did  not  study  their 
structure. 

What  the  lives  of  these  creatures  are,  and  what 
they  have  been  in  past  time,  we  must  now  try  to 
understand.  And  first  we  shall  naturally  ask,  Where 
did  the  backboned  animals  begin  ?  Where  should 
they  begin  but  in  the  water,  where  we  found  all  the 
other  divisions  making  their  first  start,  where  food  is 
so  freely  brought  by  passing  currents,  where  move- 
ment from  place  to  place  is  much  easier,  and  where 
there  are  no  such  rapid  changes  as  there  are  on  the 
land  from  dry  to  damp,  from  heat  to  cold,  or  from 
bright  leafy  summer,  with  plenty  of  food,  to  cold 
cheerless  winter,  when  starvation  often  stares  animals 
in  the  face  ? 

It  is  not  easy  to  be  sure  exactly  how  the  back- 
boned animals  began,  but  the  best  clue  we  have  to 
the  mystery  is  found  in  a  little  half- transparent 
creature  about  two  inches  long,  which  is  still  to  be 
found  living  upon  our  coast.  This  small  insignifi- 


THE  THRESHOLD  OF  BACKBONED  LIFE.       n 

cant  animal  is  called  the  "  Lancelet,"*  because  it  is 
shaped  something  like  the  head  of  a  lance,  and  it  is 
in  many  ways  so  imperfect  that  naturalists  believe 
it  to  be  a  degraded  form,  like  the  acorn  -  barnacle  ; 
that  is  to  say,  that  it  has  probably  lost  some  of  the 
parts  which  its  ancestors  once  possessed.  But  in 
any  case  it  is  the  most  simple  backboned  animal  we 
have,  and  shows  us  how  the  first  feeble  forms  may 
have  lived. 

Flitting  about  in  the  water  near  the  shore,  eating 
the  minute  creatures  which  come  in  his  way,  this 
small  fish-like  animal  is  so  colourless,  and  works  his 

Fig.  i. 


ff 

The  Lancelet,  the  lowest  known  fish-like  form. 

m,  mouth.  <?,  eye-spot,  f,  fin.  r,  rod  or  notochord,  the  first 
faint  indication  of  a  backbone.  HV,  nerve  cord,  g,  gills,  k,  hole 
out  of  which  water  passes  from  the  gills,  z/,  vent  for  refuse  of  food. 

way  down  in  the  sand  so  fast  at  the  slightest  alarm, 
that  few  people  ever  see  him,  and  when  they  do  are 
far  more  likely  to  take  him,  as  the  naturalist  Pallas 
did,  for  an  imperfect  snail  than  a  vertebrate  animal. 
He  has  no  head,  and  it  is  only  by  his  open  mouth 
(m),  surrounded  by  lashes  with  which  he  drives  in  the 
microscopic  animals,  that  you  can  tell  where  his  head 
ought  to  be.  Two  little  spots  (e)  above  his  mouth 

*  Amphioxus  lanceolatus  (amphi  both,  oxus  sharp). 


12  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

are  his  feeble  eyes,  and  one  little  pit  («)  with  a  nerve 
running  to  it  is  all  he  has  to  smell  with.  He  has 
no  pairs  of  fins  such  as  we  find  in  most  fishes,  but 
only  a  delicate  flap  (/)  on  his  back  and  round  his  tail  ; 
neither  has  he  any  true  breathing-gills,  but  he  gulps 
in  water  at  his  mouth,  and  passes  it  through  slits  in 
his  throat  into  a  kind  of  chamber,  and  from  there 
out  at  a  hole  (k)  below.  Lastly,  he  has  no  true  heart, 
and  it  is  only  by  the  throbbing  of  the  veins  them- 
selves that  his  colourless  blood  is  sent  along  the  bars 
between  the  slits,  so  that  it  takes  up  air  out  of  the 
water  as  it  passes. 

But  where  is  his  backbone  ?  Truly  it  is  only  by 
courtesy  that  we  can  call  him  a  backboned  animal, 
for  all  he  has  is  a  cord  of  gristle,  r  r,  pointed  at  both 
ends,  which  stretches  all  along  the  middle  of  his  body 
above  his  long  narrow  stomach,  while  above  this 
again  is  another  cord  containing  his  nerve-telegraph 
(nv.}  All  other  backboned  animals  that  we  know  of 
have  brains  ;  but,  as  we  have  seen,  he  has  no  head, 
and  his  nerve-cord  has  only  a  slight  bulge  just  before 
it  comes  to  a  point  above  his  mouth.  Now  when 
the  higher  backboned  animals  are  only  just  beginning 
to  form  out  of  the  egg,  their  backbone  (which  after- 
wards becomes  hard  and  jointed)  is  just  like  this 
gristly  rod  or  notochord  (r  r)  of  the  lancelet,  with 
the  spinal  cord  (nv)  lying  above  it ;  so  that  this 
lowest  backboned  animal  lives  all  his  life  in  that 
simple  state  out  of  which  the  higher  animals  very 
soon  grow. 

This  imperfect  little  lancelet  has  a  great  interest 
for  us,  because  of  his  extremely  simple  struct- 
ure and  the  slits  in  his  throat  through  which  he 


THE  THRESHOLD  OF  BACKBONED  LIFE.       13 

breathes.  You  will  remember  that  when  we  spoke 
of  the  elastic-ringed  animals  in  Life  and  her  Children, 
we  found  that  the  free  worms  were  very  active  sensi- 
tive creatures,  whose  bodies  were  made  up  of  seg- 
ments, each  with  a  double  pair  of  appendages  ;  the 
whole  being  strung  together,  as  it  were,  upon  a  feed- 
ing tube  and  a  line  of  nerve-telegraph,  but  without 
any  backbone.  Now  among  these  worms  we  find 
many  curious  varieties  ;  some  have  the  nerve-lines  at 
the  sides  instead  of  below,  and  one  sea-worm,  instead 
of  breathing  by  outside  gills  like  the  others,  has  slits 
in  its  throat  through  which  the  water  can  pass,  and 
so  its  blood  is  purified. 

You  may  ask,  What  this  has  to  do  with  back- 
boned animals  ?  Nothing  directly,  but  these  odd 
worms  are  like  fingerposts  in  a  deserted  and  grass- 
grown  country,  showing  where  roads  may  once 
have  been.  The  lancelet,  like  the  worm,  has  a 
line  of  nerve -telegraph  and  a  feeding-tube,  only 
with  him  the  nerve-telegraph  lies  above  instead  of 
below.  He  has  also  slits  in  his  throat  for  breathing, 
only  they  are  covered  by  a  pouch.  Thus  he  is  so 
different  from  the  worms  that  we  cannot  call  them 
relations ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  is  in  many 
ways  so  like,  that  we  ask  ourselves  whether  his 
ancestors  and  those  of  the  worms  may  not  have 
been  relations. 

But  you  will  say  he  is  quite  different  in  having  a 
gristly  cord.  True — but  we  shall  find  that  even  this 
does  not  give  us  a  sharp  line  of  division.  By  looking 
carefully  upon  the  seaweed  and  rocks  just  beyond 
low  tide,  we  may  often  find  some  curious  small  crea- 
tures upon  them,  called  Sea- Squirts  or  Ascidians 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFERS  RACE. 


(B,  Fig.  2).*  These  creatures  are  shaped  very  like 
double-necked  bottles,  and  they  stand  fixed  to  the 
rock  with  their  necks  stretching  up 


nv. 


Fig.  2. 

a 


Diagram  of  the  growth  of  a  Sea-Squirt  or 
Ascidian. 


A  a,   Young  free  swimming  stage.      «  , 
Intermediate  stage  when  first  settling  down,   the  rock. 


into  the  water. 
Through  one  neck 
(m)  they  take  water 
in,  and  after  filter- 
ing it  through  a 
kind  of  net  so  as 
9  to  catch  the  micro- 
scopic animals  in 
it  and  taking  the 
air  out  of  it,  they 
send  it  out  through 
the  other  neck,  thus 
gaining  the  name 
of  sea-squirts.  So 
far,  they  are  cer- 
tainly boneless  ani- 
mals. But  they 
were  not  always 
stationary,  as  you 
see  them  fixed  to 
In  their 


babyhood     they 


swim- 


B  b,   Full-grown  Sea-  Squirt. 

m,  mouth  ;  e,  hollow  brain  with  eye  ;  g, 
gill  slits  ;  ht  heart  ;  r,  rod  of  gristle  in  free  were 
swimming  form;  nv,   nerve  cord  in  same;   mingcreatureswith 

ateform  Pr°CeSS  Of  absorption  in  intermedi'  tails  (A  and  a),  and 

in    the   tail  was   a 

gristly  cord  (r\  with  a  nerve  cord  (iiv)  above  it,  like 
those  we  find  in  the  lancelet.      For  this  reason  we 


*  For  this  drawing,  and  also  those  of  Figures  I  and  4,  I  am  indebted 
to  Professor  A.  C.  Haddon  ;  the  larval  form  A  is  the  young  of  Clave- 
lina,  found  at  Torquay. 


THE  THRESHOLD  OF  BACKBONED  LIFE.       15 

were  obliged  to  pass  them  by  among  the  lower 
forms  of  life,  because,  having  this  cord  (r),  they 
did  not  truly  belong  to  the  animals  without  back- 
bones ;  and  yet  now  we  can  scarcely  admit  them 
here,  because  when  they  are  grown  up  they  are  not 
backboned  animals.  They  belong,  in  fact,  to  a  kind 
of  "  No  Man's  Land,"  behaving  in  many  ways  like 
the  lancelet  when  they  are  young,  as  if  they  had 
once  tried  to  be  backboned  ;  and  yet  they  fall  back 
as  they  grow  up  into  invertebrate  animals. 

So  we  begin  to  see  that  there  may  have  been  a 
time  when  backbones  had  not  gained  quite  a  firm  foot- 
ing, and  our  lancelet,  with  his  friends  the  sea-squirts, 
seems  to  lie  very  near  the  threshold  of  backbone  life. 

And  now  that  we  are  once  started  fairly  on  our 
road,  let  us  turn  aside  before  beginning  the  history  of 
the  great  fish-world  and  pay  a  visit  to  a  little  crea- 
ture whose  name,  at  least,  we  all  know  well,  and  which 
stands  half-way  between  the  lancelet  and  the  true  fish. 
This  is  the  Lamprey,  represented  by  two  kinds  ;  the 
large  Sea- Lamprey,  caught  by  the  fishermen  for  bait 
as  it  wanders  up  the  rivers  to  lay  its  eggs,  and  the 
true  River-Lamprey  or  Lampern,  which  rarely  visits 
the  sea. 

What  country  boy  is  there  who  has  not  hunted 
in  the  mud  of  the  rivers  or  streams  for  these  bright- 
eyed  eel -like  fish,  with  no  fins,  and  a  fringe  on 
back  and  tail  ?  If  you  feel  about  for  them  in  the 
mud  they  will  often  come  up  clinging  to  your  hand 
with  their  round  sucker- mouth,  while  the  water 
trickles  out  of  the  seven  little  holes  on  each  side  of 
their  heads.  The  small  river-lampreys  do  not  hurt 
in  the  least  as  they  cling,  though  the  inside  of  their 


i6 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


mouth  is  filled  with  small  horny  teeth.  But  the 
larger  sea-lamprey  uses  these  teeth  as  sharp  weapons, 
scraping  off  the  flesh  of  fish  for  food  as  he  clings 
to  them. 

These  Lampreys,  together  with  some  strange  crea- 
tures, the  "Hags"  or  "Borers,"*  belong  to  quite  a 
peculiar  family,  called  the  Round -mouthed  fishes,! 


Figure  of  a  full-grown  Lamprey  J  and  of  the  young  Lamprey,  formerly 

called  Ammoccetes. 
Showing  the  seven  holes  through  which  it  takes  in  water  to  breathe. 

and,  though  they  stand  much  higher  in  the  world 
than  the  lancelet,  yet  they  are  very  different  from 
true  fish.  Like  the  lancelet  they  have  only  a  gristly 

*  Myxine.  f  Cyclostomata  (cyclos^  circle  ;  stoma,  mouth). 

£  Petromyzon  (petra,  stone  ;  myzo,  to  suck). 


THE  THRESHOLD  OF  BACKBONED  LIFE.      17 

cord  for  a  backbone,  but  this  cord  has  begun  to  form 
arches  over  the  nerve  battery,  and  it  swells  out  at  the 
end  into  a  gristly  skull  covering  a  true  brain.  They 
have  clear  bright  eyes  too,  and  ears,  which  if  not 
very  sharp,  are  at  least  such  as  they  can  hear  with  ; 
they  have  only  one  nostril,  and  their  mouth  is  both 
curious  and  useful.  When  it  is  shut  it  looks  like  a 
straight  slit,  but  when  it  is  open  it  forms  a  round 
sucker  with  a  border  of  gristle,  and  this  sucker  clings 
firmly  to  anything  against  which  it  is  pressed,  so 
that  a  stone  weighing  twelve  pounds  has  been  lifted 
by  taking  a  lamprey  by  the  tail.  Inside  the  mouth 
the  palate  and  tongue  are  covered  with  small  horny 
teeth,  and  these  are  the  lamprey's  weapons. 

Salmon  have  been  caught  in  the  rivers  with 
lampreys  hanging  to  them,  and  where  the  mouth  has 
been  the  salmon's  flesh  is  rasped  away,  though  he 
does  not  seem  much  to  mind  it. 

Lastly,  the  lamprey  has  a  peculiar  way  of  breath- 
ing. He  has  seven  little  holes  on  each  side  of  his 
head,  reminding  us  of  the  slits  in  the  worm's  throat 
and  those  hidden  under  the  skin  of  the  lancelet,  and 
behind  these  holes  are  seven  little  pouches  lined  with 
blood-vessels,  which  take  up  air  out  of  the  water. 
These  pouches  are  all  separate,  but  they  open  by 
one  tube  into  his  throat.  When  the  lamprey  is 
swimming  about  it  is  possible  that  he  may  gulp 
water  in  at  his  mouth  and  send  it  out  at  the  slits. 
But  when  he  is  clinging  to  anything  he  certainly 
sends  water  both  in  and  out  at  the  slits,  so  that  he 
can  still  breathe,  though  his  mouth  is  otherwise 
occupied. 

And  now,  what  is  the  history  of  his  life  ?      For 


18  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

three  years  he  lives  as  a  stupid  little  creature,  with  a 
toothless  mouth  surrounded  by  feelers,  and  tiny  eyes 
covered  over  with  skin,  and  he  is  so  unlike  a  lamprey 
that  for  a  long  time  naturalists  thought  he  was  a  dif- 
ferent animal  and  called  him  Ammoccetes.  But  at  the 
end  of  the  three  years  he  changes  his  shape,  and  then 
he  is  as  bright  and  intelligent  as  he  was  dull  and 
heavy  before.  His  one  thought  is  to  find  a  mate  and 
help  her  to  cover  up  her  eggs.  To  do  this  a  number 
of  lampreys  find  their  way  up  the  river  and  set  to 
work.  Sometimes  one  pair  go  alone,  sometimes 
several  together,  and  they  twirl  round  and  round  so 
as  to  make  a  hole  in  the  sand,  lifting  even  heavy 
stones  out  with  their  mouths  if  they  come  in  the  way. 
Then  they  shed  the  spawn  into  the  hole,  where  it  is 
soon  covered  with  sand  and  mud,  to  lie  till  it  is  safely 
hatched,  and  when  this  is  done  the  marine  lampreys 
swim  out  to  sea  to  feed  on  the  numberless  small  crea- 
tures in  it,  or  to  fasten  upon  some  unfortunate  fish. 

But  there  are  round-mouthed  fishes  even  more 
greedy  than  these.  It  is  not  only  among  the  lower 
forms  of  life  that  some  creatures,  such  as  worms, 
which  are  driven  from  the  outer  world,  find  a  refuge 
inside  other  animals.  But  here  again  we  meet  with 
the  same  thing,  for  those  relations  of  the  lampreys, 
the  hags  or  borers,  which  we  mentioned  above,  use 
their  sharp  teeth  to  bore  their  way  into  other  fish  so 
as  to  feed  upon  them.  These  greedy  little  crea- 
tures actually  drill  holes  in  the  flesh  of  the  cod  or 
haddock  and  other  fish,  and  eat  out  the  inside  of 
their  bodies,  so  that  a  haddock  has  been  found  with 
nothing  but  the  skin  and  skeleton  remaining  while 
six  fat  hags  lay  comfortably  inside. 


THE  THRESHOLD  OF  BACKBONED  LIFE.       19 

So  the  round-mouthed  fishes,  feeble  though  they 
are,  hold  their  own  in  the  world.  How  long  ago  it 
is  since  they  first  began  the  battle  of  life  we  shall 
probably  never  know  for  certain  ;  but  if  some  little 
horny  teeth  *  found  in  very  ancient  rocks  belong  to 
their  ancestors,  they  were  most  likely  among  the 
first  backboned  animals  on  our  globe.  At  any  rate 
they  are  very  interesting  to  us  now,  for  they  have 
wandered  far  away  from  the  true  fishes,  and  give  us 
a  glimpse  of  some  of  the  strange  by-paths  which  the 
backboned  animals  have  followed  in  order  to  win  for 
themselves  a  place  in  the  race  for  life. 

*  Called  conodottts,  and  found  in  Lower  Silurian  rocks  earlier  than 
any  bones  of  true  fish. 


CHAPTER    II. 

HOW  THE  QUAINT  OLD  FISHES  OF  ANCIENT  TIMES 
HAVE  LIVED  ON  INTO  OUR  DAY. 

WHO  is  there  among  my  readers  who  wishes  to 
understand  the  pleasures,  the  difficulties,  and  the 
secrets  of  fish  life  ?  Whoever  he  may  be  he  must 
not  be  content  with  merely  looking  down  into  the 

NOTE. — For  description  of  the  Picture-Headings  see  the  Table  of 
Contents. 


THE  FISH  WORLD.  21 

water,  as  one  peeps  into  a  looking-glass,  or  he  may, 
perchance,  only  see  there  the  reflection  of  his  own 
thoughts  and  ideas,  and  learn  very  little  of  how  the 
fishes  really  feel  and  live.  No  !  if  we  want  really 
to  understand  fish-life  we  must  forget  for  a  time  that 
we  are  land  and  air-breathing  animals,  and  must 
plunge  in  imagination  into  the  cool  river  or  the 
open  sea,  and  wander  about  as  if  the  water  were  our 
true  home.  For  the  fish  know  no  more  about  our 
land-world  than  we  do  about  their  beautiful  ocean- 
home.  To  them  the  water  is  the  beginning  and  end 
of  everything,  and  if  they  come  to  the  'top  every  now 
and  then  for  a  short  air-bath  they  return  very  quickly 
for  fear  of  being  suffocated.  Their  great  kingdom 
is  the  sea — the  deep-sea,  where  strange  phosphor- 
escent fish  live,  lying  in  the  dark  mysterious  valleys 
where  even  sharks  and  sword-fish  rarely  venture  ; — 
the  open  sea,  where  they  roam  over  wide  plains  when 
the  ocean-bottom  makes  a  fine  feeding -ground,  or 
where  they  thread  their  way  through  forests  of  sea- 
weed, while  others  swim  nearer  the  surface  and  come 
up  to  bask  in  the  sun  or  rest  on  a  baffk  of  floating 
weed  ; — and  the  shallow  sea,  where  they  come  to  lay 
their  Qg?s  and  bring  up  their  young  ones,  and  out 
of  wjCcVmany  of  them  venture  up  the  mouths  of 
rivers,  while  others  have  learnt  to  remain  in  them 
and  make  the  fresh  water  their  home. 

The  tender  little  minnows  that  bask  in  the  sunny 
shallows  of  the  river  have  never  even  seen  the  sea, 
their  ancestors  left  it  so  long  long  ago ;  yet  to 
them,  too,  water  is  life  and  breath  and  everything. 
The  green  meadow  through  which  the  river  flows 
is  just  the  border  of  their  world  and  nothing  more, 


22  THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

and  the  air  is  boundless  space,  which  they  never  visit 
except  for  a  moment  to  snap  at  a  tiny  fly,  or  when 
they  jump  up  to  escape  the  jaws  of  some  bigger  fish. 
Every  one  knows  the  minnow,  and  we  cannot  do 
better  than  take  him  as  our  type  of  a  fish  in  order 
to  understand  how  they  live  and  move  and  breathe. 
Go  and  lie  down  quietly  some  day  by  the  side  of 
the  clear  pebbly  shallows  of  some  swiftly -flowing 
river  where  these  delicate  little  fish  are  to  be  seen  ; 
but  keep  very  still,  for  the  slightest  movement  is  in- 
stantly detected.  There  they  lie 

"  Staying  their  wavy  bodies  'gainst  the  streams 
To  taste  the  luxury  of  sunny  beams 
Tempered  with  coolness.      How  they  ever  wrestle 
*      "With  their  own  sweet  delight,  and  ever  nestle 
Their  silver  bellies  on  the  pebbly  sand  ! 
If  you  but  scantily  hold  out  the  hand, 
That  veiy  instant  not  one  will  remain  ; 
But  turn  your  eye  and  they  are  there  again." 

If  you  can  be  motionless  and  not  frighten  them  you 
may  see  a  good  deal,  for  while  some  are  dashing  to 
and  fro,  others,  with  just  a  lazy  wave  of  the  tail  and 
the  tiny  fins,  will  loiter  along  the  sides  of  the  stream, 
where  you  may  examine  their  half-transparent  bodies. 
Look  first  at  one  of  the  larger  ones,  whose  parts  are 
easily  seen,  and  notice  how  every  moment  he  gulps 
with  his  mouth,  while  at  the  same  time  a  little  scaly 
cover  (g  c,  B,  Fig.  4)  on  each  side  of  the  head,  just  be- 
hind the  eye,  opens  and  closes,  showing  a  red  streak 
within.  This  is  how  he  breathes.  He  takes  in  water 
at  his  mouth,  and  instead  of  swallowing  it  passes  it 
through  some  bony  toothed  slits  (§•,  A  Fig.  4)  in  his 
throat  into  a  little  chamber  under  that  scaly  cover  ; 
in  that  chamber,  fastened  to  the  bony  slits,  are  a 


STRUCTURE  OF  THE  MINNOW.  23 

number  of  folds  of  flesh  full  of  blood-vessels,  which 
take  up  the  air  out  of  the  water  ;  and  when  this  is 
done  he  closes  the  toothed  slits  and  so  forces  the  bad 
water  out  from  under  the  scaly  cover  back  into  the 
river  again.  It  is  the  little  heart  (/*),  lying  just  behind 

Fig.  4. 


The  structure  of  the  Minnow  and  the  living  fish. 

A  «,  nose-pit ;  e,  eye-nerve  ;    «r,  ear-nerve  ;   g,  gills  ;    h,  heart ; 
/,  food-tube  ;    s,  stomach ;    k,    kidney ;   v,  vent ;    da,  dorsal-artery,     i 
a,  air-bladder ;  b,  backbone  ;  nv,  nerve  cord  or  spinal  cord. 

B  «,  nose ;   gc,  gill  cover  ;    af>  arm-fin ;    If,  leg-fins ;      sfy  single 
fins  ;  ms,  mucous  scales. 

the  gills,  which  pumps  the  blood  into  the  channels  in 
those  red  folds,  and  as  it  keeps  sending  more  and 
more,  that  which  is  freshened  is  forced  on  and  flows 


24  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

through  the  rest  of  the  body.  It  goes  on  its  way 
slowly,  because  a  fish's  heart  has  only  two  chambers 
instead  of  four  as  we  have,  and  these  are  both  employed 
in  pumping  the  blood  into  the  gills,  so  that  for  the 
rest  of  the  journey  through  the  body  it  has  no  further 
help.  For  this  reason,  and  also  because  taking  up 
air  out  of  the  water  is  a  slow  matter,  fish  are  cold- 
blooded animals,  not  much  warmer  than  the  water 
in  which  they  are. 

But  while  our  minnow  breathes  he  also  swims.  He 
is  hardly  still  for  a  moment,  even  though  he  may  give 
only  the  tiniest  wave  with  his  tail  and  fins,  and  he 
slips  through  the  water  with  great  ease,  because  his 
body  is  narrow  and  tapers  more  or  less  at  both  ends 
like  a  boat.  At  times,  too,  if  he  is  frightened,  he 
bounds  with  one  lash  of  his  tail  right  across  the  river  ; 
and  if  you  look  at  one  of  the  small  transparent  min- 
nows you  will  see  that  he  has  power  to  do  this  because 
his  real  body,  composed  of  his  head  and  gills,  heart 
and  stomach,  ends  at  half  his  length  (see  Fig.  4,  A), 
and  all  the  rest  is  tail,  made  of  backbone  and  strong 
muscles,  with  which  he  can  strike  firmly.  This  is 
one  great  secret  of  fish  strength,  that  nearly  one 
half  of  their  body  is  an  implement  for  driving  them 
through  the  water  and  guiding  them  on  their  way. 
Still  although  the  tail  is  his  chief  propeller,  our  minnow 
could  not  keep  his  balance  at  all  if  it  were  not  for 
his  arm  and  leg  fins.  You  will  notice  that  it  is  the 
pair  of  front  fins  (of)  which  move  most,  while  the 
under  ones  (If)  are  pressed  together  and  almost  still. 
Besides  these  two  pairs  he  has  three  single  fins  (sf), 
one  under  his  body,  one  large  V-shaped  one  at  the 
end  of  his  tail,  and  another  single  one  upon  his  back. 


HOW  A  FISH  SWIMS.  25 

All  these  different  fins  help  to  guide  him  on  his  way ; 
but  while  the  single  ones  are  fish-fringes,  as  it  were, 
like  the  fringe  round  the  lancelet's  body,  only  split  into 
several  parts,  the  two  pair  under  his  body  are  real 
limbs,  answering  to  the  two  pair  of  limbs  we  find  in 
all  backboned  animals,  whether  they  are  all  four  fins, 
or  all  four  legs,  or  wings  and  legs,  or  arms  and  legs. 

These  paired  wings  are  most  important  to  the 
minnow,  for,  if  his  arm-fins  were  cut  off,  his  head 
would  go  down  at  once,  or,  if  one  of  them  was 
gone  he  would  fall  on  one  side,  while,  if  he  had  lost 
his  fins  altogether,  he  would  float  upside  down  as  a 
dead  fish  does,  for  his  back  is  the  heaviest  part  of 
his  body.  It  is  worth  while  to  watch  how  cannily 
he  uses  them.  If  you  cannot  see  him  in  the  stream 
you  can  do  so  quite  well  in  a  little  glass  bowl,  as  I 
have  him  before  me  now.  If  he  wants  to  go  to  the 
left  he  strikes  to  the  right  with  his  tail  and  moves 
his  right  arm-fin,  closing  down  the  left,  or  if  he  wants 
to  go  to  the  right  he  does  just  the  opposite  ;  though 
often  it  is  enough  to  strike  with  his  tail  and  single 
fin  below,  and  then  he  uses  both  the  front  fins  at 
once  to  press  forward. 

But  how  does  he  manage  to  float  so  quietly 
in  the  water,  almost  without  moving  his  fins  ?  If 
your  minnow  is  young  and  transparent  you  will 
be  able  to  answer  this  question  by  looking  at  his 
body  just  under  his  backbone,  and  between  it  and 
his  stomach.  There  you  will  see  a  long,  narrow, 
silvery  tube  (a,  Fig.  4)  drawn  together  in  the  middle 
so  that  the  front  half  near  his  eyes  looks  like  a  large 
globule  of  quicksilver,  and  the  hinder  half  like  a  tiny 
silver  sausage.  This  silvery  tube  is  a  bladder  full  of 


26  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

gas,  chiefly  nitrogen,  and  is  called  the  air-bladder. 
Its  use  has  long  been  a  great  puzzle  to  naturalists, 
and  even  now  there  is  much  to  be  learnt  about 
it  But  one  thing  is  certain,  and  that  is,  that  fish 
such  as  sharks,  rays,  and  soles,  which  have  no  air- 
bladders,  are  always  heavier  than  the  water,  and  must 
make  a  swimming  effort  to  prevent  sinking.  Fish,  on 
the  contrary,  which  have  air-bladders,  can  always  find 
some  one  depth  in  the  water  at  which  they  can  remain 
without  falling  or  rising,  and  we  shall  see  later  on  that 
this  has  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  different  depths  at 
which  certain  fish  live.  Our  minnow  floats  naturally 
not  far  from  the  top,  and,  even  if  he  were  forced  to 
live  farther  down,  the  gas  in  his  bladder  would  accom- 
modate itself  after  a  few  hours  if  the  change  was  not 
too  great,  and  he  would  float  comfortably  again. 

And  now  the  question  remains,  What  intelligence 
has  the  minnow  to  guide  him  in  all  these  movements? 
If  you  will  keep  minnows  and  feed  them  yourself 
every  day  you  will  soon  find  out  that  they  see, 
smell,  and  feel  very  quickly,  though  their  hearing 
and  taste  are  not  so  acute.  They  are  cunning 
enough  too,  and  will  often  steal  a  march  upon 
heavier  and  slower  fish,  snatching  delicate  morsels 
from  under  their  very  noses.  For  our  little  minnow 
can  boast  of  a  real  brain,  though  it  is  a  small  one  in 
comparison  with  his  size.  All  along,  above  his  deli- 
cate backbone,  the  thread  of  nerve  telegraph  (nv,  Fig. 
p.  23)  runs  under  protecting  bony  arches,  and  sends 
out  nerves  on  all  sides  to  the  body  and  fins ;  and  when 
it  reaches  the  head  it  swells  out,  under  a  bony  cover- 
ing, into  a  small  brain,  sending  out  two  nerves  to  the 
ears  (ea),  in  front  of  which  is  a  second  part,  with  two 


THE  SENSE-ORGANS  OF  THE  MINNOW.      27 

nerve-stations  (e)  for  the  eyes,  and  beyond  this  a 
third  part,  with  two  more  for  the  nostrils,  besides 
others  which  go  to  the  face.  Look  on  the  top  of 
a  minnow's  head  and  you  will  see  two  little  raised 
bumps  (»).  These  are  its  nostrils,  but  remember 
they  have  nothing  to  do  with  breathing ;  they  have  not 
even  any  connection  with  the  mouth,  but  are  simply 
little  covered  cups,  each  with  two  openings  for  water 
to  flow  in  and  out,  and  they  are  lined  with  nerves,  which, 
tickled  by  good  or  bad  scents  in  the  water,  carry  to 
the  brain  a  warning,  or  a  promise  of  good  things. 

Such,  then,  is  our  little  minnow,  and  the  different 
parts  of  his  body  are  supported  by  a  slender  bony- 
jointed  backbone,  with  ribs  growing  from  it,  support- 
ing a  strong  mass  of  flesh  on  his  sides.  He  is  a 
delicate  tender  creature,  but  is  protected  and  buoyed 
up  by  the  water,  out  of  which  he  never  attempts  to  go. 
The  thin,  rounded,  transparent  scales  which  cover  his 
body,  growing  out  of  little  pockets  in  his  skin,  just  like 
our  nails  on  the  tips  of  our  fingers,  protect  this  skin 
from  the  water  and  from  rough  treatment ;  while  they 
themselves  are  kept  soft  by  a  slimy  fluid  which  oozes  out 
from  under  them,  and  especially  through  the  dark  line 
of  larger  scales  (ins.  Fig.  p.  2  3)  running  along  his  body. 

Now  the  minnow  is  a  bony  fish,  and  from  it  we  can 
learn  very  fairly  what  bony  or  modern  fishes  are  like. 
But  these  fish  were  not  the  founders  of  the  race  ;  long 
before  they  existed  there  was  another  very  ancient  group 
of  fishes  in  the  world,  which  were  in  many  ways  more 
like  the  lancelet  and  the  lamprey  ;  and  to  find  such 
descendants  of  this  ancient  group  as  are  now  living  we 
must  leave  the  river  and  find  our  way  into  the  open  sea. 


28  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

If  we  do  this,  we  shall  travel  not  many  miles  from 
the  shore  in  summer,  wending  our  way  through 
shrimps  and  lobsters,  gurnards,  cod-fish,  soles,  and 
turbot,  before  we  may  chance  to  come  across  a  great 
Blue  shark,  with  his  slaty-coloured  back  and  fins, 
swimming  heavily  but  strongly  through  the  water, 
and  turning  sharply  from  time  to  time  to  seize  a 
passing  fish,  his  white  belly  gleaming  like  a  flash  of 
light  as  it  comes  uppermost,  and  then  disappearing 
again  in  the  dark  water. 

"  His  jaws  horrific,  armed  with  threefold  fate, 
Here  dwells  the  direful  shark." 

Or  if  this  formidable  monster  does  not  happen  to 
be  in  the  neighbourhood  another  kind,  the  Dogfish, 
may  cross  our  path,  perhaps  the  Smooth  hound,  crush- 
ing the  crabs  and  lobsters  in  his  tooth-lined  mouth,  or 
the  Rough  hound  fastening  her  purse-like  egg  to  the 
sea-weed  by  its  long  string-like  tendrils  ;  or,  farther 
out  still,  we  may  perhaps  see  the  Thresher  shark  lash- 
ing the  water  with  his  long  pointed  tail,  to  drive  the 
frightened  fish  within  his  reach  ;  or,  if  we  were  off  the 
west  coast  of  Ireland,  the  huge  but  harmless  Basking 
shark  might  be  floating  calmly  by  in  the  warm  sunshine. 
For  sharks  travel  all  over  the  ocean,  and  though  they 
prefer  the  warm  seas,  where  they  sometimes  reach  a 
size  of  forty  feet  long  and  more,  yet  many  of  the 
smaller  kinds  visit  our  coasts  in  summer. 

Now,  at  first  sight  we  might  imagine  that  these 
huge  monsters,  the  terrible  tyrants  of  the  sea,  must 
be  the  last  and  most  finished  production  of  fish-life  ; 
but  if  we  look  a  little  closer  we  shall  be  undeceived. 
Examine  a  shark  in  any  good  museum,  and  you 
cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  his  strange  form. 


THE  BLUE  SHARK. 


29 


Look  first  at 
his  tub -like 
body,  so  dif- 
ferent from 
the  narrow 
wedge -shape 
of  the  min- 
now, the  her- 
ring, or  the 
salmon.  Then 
observe  his 
skin,  which 
is  either 
tough,  more 
like  that  of 
other  ani- 
mals, or 
thickly  cov- 
ered with 
short  blunt 
teeth,  which 
sometimes, 
especially  in 
front  of  the 
fins,  become 
long  pointed 
spines.  There 
is  no  trace 
of  fish-scales 
here.  Look 
at  his  mouth 
opening  un- 
der his  point- 


Carcharias  glaucus. 


30  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

ed  snout,  and  you  will  see  that  as  the  skin  turns 
over  the  lips  these  blunt  teeth  line  his  mouth,  so 
that  he  has  several  rows  fit  for  biting,  and  they 
are  sometimes  so  formidable  that  they  can  cut  a 
man  in  two  at  one  snap.  Then  look  more  especi- 
ally at  the  sides  of  his  throat,  and  there  you  will  see 
on  each  side  from  five  to  seven  slits,  reminding  you 
at  once  of  the  slits  of  the  lamprey,  though  they  are 
long  instead  of  round.  For  the  shark  has  never 
arrived  at  having  true  gills  under  a  horny  cover 
like  the  minnow,  but  still  breathes  by  pouches  and 
slits  somewhat  after  the  way  of  the  lowly  round- 
mouthed  fishes.  Lastly,  observe  his  curious  tail. 
In  nearly  all  living  fish  the  tail  is  even*  or  V-shaped, 
but  in  the  sharks  the  top  point  is  usually  longer 
than  the  lower  one,t  and  in  some,  such  as  the 
Thresher,  it  is  very  remarkably  so. 

This  uneven  tail  is  the  badge  of  a  very  ancient 
race  ;  out  of  the  shark  family  we  scarcely  find  it 
anywhere  now  except  among  the  sturgeons,  who,  we 
shall  see,  are  old-fashioned  too. 

And  now  when  we  inquire  into  the  growth  of  the 
shark  and  the  kind  of  backbone  he  has,  we  find  that 
he  has  still  more  links  with  the  lower  fish-like  animals. 
For  when  he  is  young  he  has  nothing  but  a  rod  of 
gristle  or  cartilage  running  between  the  long  narrow 
feeding- tube  and  the  spinal  cord  ;  but  this  rod  is 
flattened  in  front,  and  as  the  young  shark  grows 
up  the  flat  part  enlarges  so  as  to  form  a  boat-like 
box — the  skull,  round  the  swollen  end  of  the  nerve 
telegraph — the  brain.  Meanwhile  the  rod  becomes 
divided  into  rings,  and  from  each  ring  an  arch  of 

*  Homocercal.  t  Heterocercal. 


CARTILAGINOUS  FISHES.  31 

gristle  growing  upwards  surrounds  the  nerve  cord  so 
as  to  protect  it  from  injury,  and  the  whole  skeleton 
becomes  firm  and  strong.  But  though  the  shark  is 
one  of  the  strongest  of  sea-animals  he  never  loses  this 
gristly  state  of  his  backbone  or  his  skeleton  ;  however 
much  he  may  strengthen  it  by  hard  matter  it  never 

Fig.  6. 


The  Sturgeon  *  entering  a  Russian  river. 

becomes  true  bone,  but  remains  quite  distinct  from 
the  skeleton  of  the  bony  or  osseous  fish. 

We  see,  then,  that  there  is  a  race  of  gristly  or 
cartilaginous  fishes,  which,  though  they  have  grown 
strong  and  powerful,  still  hold  to  many  primitive 
habits  in  forming  both  their  body  and  skeleton.  Nor 
do  the  sharks  stand  alone,  for  the  large  sturgeons, 
which  live  partly  in  the  sea  and  partly  in  fresh  water, 

*  Acipenser  sturio. 


32  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

crowding  up  the  rivers  of  Russia  and  America  to 
grope  in  the  river  mud  for  food,  and  to  lay  their 
millions  of  eggs,  are  also  remnants  of  the  ancient  type. 
It  is  true  that  with  them  the  slits  in  the  neck  are 
covered  by  a  horny  flap  like  the  bony  fish,  and  like 
them  too  they  have  an  air-bladder  under  the  back- 
bone.* But  they  too  have  a  gristly  skeleton,  and  the 
gristly  rod  more  or  less  hardened  runs  right  along 
their  back.  In  other  respects  they  are  perhaps  even 
more  peculiar  than  the  sharks  ;  for  the  sturgeon's 
head  is  covered  with  hard  bony  shields,  and  five  rows 
of  bony  bucklers  are  arranged  along  his  body.  We 
seem  almost  to  have  got  back  among  the  armour- 
covered  animals  as  we  look  at  his  shiny  plates,  re- 
minding us  that  with  a  mere  gristly  skeleton  within,  it 
Fig.  7.  may  have  been  wise  for  the 

early  types  of  fish  to  wear 
some  outward  protection. 
His  snout  is  long  and 
pointed,  with  four  delicate 

The  Sturgeon's  head  seen  from  be-  feelers  hanging  downfrom 
low,  showing  the  tube-like  mouth  it,  and  his  mouth,  which 
and  the  four  barbels  or  feelers.  Js  quite  under  ^  ^^  {s 

a  soft  open  tube  without  teeth,  which  he  can  draw  up 
or  push  out  to  suck  up  fish  or  any  animal  matter  he 
finds  in  the  mud. 

Clearly  the  sturgeon  is  an  old-fashioned  fellow, 
as  you  may  see  for  yourself,  when  specimens  caught 
at  the  mouths  of  our  rivers  are  shown  in  the 
fishmongers'  shops.  I  have  often  wondered,  when 
standing  looking  at  him  and  at  the  sharks  in  the 
British  Museum,  whether  the  people  who  stroll  by 

*  Isinglass  is  made  from  the  covering  of  this  air-bladder. 


ENAMEL-  SCALED  FISH  AND  MUD-FISH.        33 

have  any  idea  what  a  strange  history  these  quaint 
old  fishes  have,  or  how  they  stand  there  among  the 
scaly  and  bony  fishes  lying  in  the  cases  around, 
just  as  an  Egyptian  and  a  Chinaman  might  stand  in 
an  English  crowd,  descendants  of  old  and  noble  races 
of  long  long  ago,  whose  first  ancestors  have  been  lost 
in  the  dim  darkness  of  ages,  whose  day  of  strength 
and  glory  was  at  a  time  when  the  modern  races  had 
not  yet  begun  to  be,  and  whose  representatives  now 
live  in  a  world  which  has  almost  forgotten  them. 

In  the  silent  depths  of  the  large  lakes  of  North 
America  there  is  a  fish  called  the  Bony  pike,*  a 
huge  fellow  often  six  feet  long,  with  a  long  beak- 
shaped  mouth,  which  he  snaps  as  he  goes,  devouring 
everything  that  comes  in  his  way.  This  fish  has  his 
body  covered  with  lozenge-shaped,  bony,  enamelled 
scales,  like  the  fish  of  long  ago,  and  so  too  has  the 
strange  Bichir,f  which  wanders  above  the  cataracts  of 
the  Nile,  with  its  row  of  eight  to  eighteen  fins  raised 
upon  its  back  like  tiny  sails.  Then  again  there  are 
the  curious  calf- fish  of  North  America,!  of  the 
Amazons,§  of  the  Nile,||  and  of  the  rivers  of  Queens- 
land in  Australia.^  These  all  have  gristly  skeletons, 
and  together  with  the  sharks  and  sturgeons  make 
up  all  that  remains  of  those  strange  shadows  of  the 
past  moving  among  the  bony  fishes  of  to-day. 

The  mud -fishes  are  indeed  the  most  curious 
of  all,  for  they  breathe  both  water  and  air,  and 
in  the  Nile  and  Gambia  often  coil  themselves  round 
in  the  mud  when  the  water  goes  down,  and,  lin- 
ing their  bed  with  slime,  sleep  comfortably  till  the 

*  Lepidosteus.         f  Polypterus.         %  Amia.         §  Lepidosiren. 

||  Protopterus.  1T  Ceratodus. 

3 


34  THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

rains  refill  the  pools  with  water.*  The  fact  is  they 
have  two  quite  separate  ways  of  breathing.  They  have 
gills  with  which  they  can  take  air  out  of  the  water  like 
other  fish,  and  these  they  always  use  when  they  can. 
But  they  have  a  tube  in  their  throat  leading  into  the  air- 
bladder  lying  under  their  backbone,  and  through  this 


Fig.  8. 


The  Ceratodus  of  Queensland,  an  air-breathing  and  water-breathing 
mud-fish  of  the  ancient  type,  with  paddle-fins. 

they  can  breathe  in  air  when  they  cannot  get  it  from 
the  water.    In  Amia  especially,  which  is  a  true  enamel- 
scaled  fish,  this  air-bladder  is  divided  into  numerous 
cells,  and  it  breathes  with  it  just  as  with  a  lung. 
.It  was  in  the  year   1870  that  the  Ceratodus •,  or 

*  These  fish,  coiled  round,  may  be  seen  in  the  British  Museum. 


THE  AIR-BREA  THING  CERA  TOD  US.  35 

the  "  Barramunda,"  as  the  Australian  natives  call 
him,  was  discovered  in  the  rivers  of  Queensland  ;  and 
since  then  he  has  become  very  famous,  for,  more  than 
any  of  the  others,  he  is  like  the  fishes  of  long  ago. 
He  is  a  lumpy  fish,  sometimes  as  much  as  six  feet 
long,  with  a  gristly  cord  for  a  backbone.  His  body 
is  covered  with  large  rounded  scales,  and  he  has  a 
broad  fringe  round  his  pointed  tail.  His  fins  are 
more  like  paddles  than  fish  fins,  having  several  joints, 
and  he  uses  them,  together  with  his  fringed  tail,  to 
flap  along  in  the  water,  or  even  to  wander  over  the 
reedy  flats  at  night,  chewing  the  weeds  with  his 
broad  ridged  teeth.  And  as  he  flaps  along,  from 
time  to  time,  when  the  water  is  too  muddy  for  his 
liking,  he  comes  up  to  the  top,  and  with  a  great  gulp 
swallows  air  into  the  air-chamber.  But  before  he  can 
do  this  he  must  send  out  the  bad  air  within,  and  in  doing 
so  he  gives  a  grunt  which  is  often  heard  far  away  at 
night  in  those  still  Australian  wilds.  He  need  not 
come  up  for  air-breathing,  however,  if  the  water  is  pure, 
for,  strange  to  say,  the  whole  course  of  his  blood  can 
be  altered  to  suit  his  wants.  When  he  can  get  clear 
water  to  breathe  through  his  gills  the  blood  flows  to 
them  to  be  freshened,  and  his  air-bladder  simply  takes 
in  gas  from  the  body  as  it  does  in  other  fishes,  and 
wants  feeding  with  good  blood.  But  when  he  comes 
up  to  breathe  then  the  blood  is  carried  the  other 
way,  and  comes  to  the  air-bladder  to  be  freshened. 

And  now  if  we  want  to  read  the  history  of  all 
these  strange  forms,  you  must  let  me  take  you  by 
the  hand  and  lead  you  in  imagination  back,  back 
through  millions  of  years,  to  a  time  so  long  ago  that 
we  cannot  even  count  the  ages  between.  As  we 


36  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

recede  from  our  own  day  we  shall  leave  behind  us 
all  the  kinds  of  plants  and  animals  we  now  know  so 
well,  and  meet  with  strange  kinds  only  bearing  a 
general  resemblance  to  them.  After  a  long  journey 
of  thousands  and  thousands  of  years,  in  which  the 
plants  and  animals,  and  even  the  very  shape  of  the 
continents  and  islands,  have  gone  through  many 
changes,  we  shall  get  back  to  the  time  when  the 
lime-builders  were  forming  thin  layers  of  chalk  at 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  which  were  afterwards  to 
become  our  enormous  chalk  hills.  Still  backwards 
we  must  go  through  all  that  long  period,  and  then 
through  three  others  quite  as  long,  with  ever-changing 
scenes  of  life  and  climate  and  geography,  till  we  find 
ourselves  in  those  grand  old  forests  whose  trees  and 
plants  we  now  dig  out  as  coal. 

Even  then  we  must  not  stop  to  rest,  though  we 
are  getting  back  to  the  dim  ages  of  the  world,  for 
the  journey  is  not  yet  ended.  On,  on,  backwards 
through  countless  years,  till  we  lose  sight  not  only 
of  beasts  and  birds  and  reptiles,  but  even  of  insects 
and  flowering  plants,  which,  at  the  time  we  are 
reaching,  had  not  yet  begun  to  be.  At  last  we  lose 
almost  all  life  upon  the  land,  so  far  as  we  can  tell, 
and  after  another  long  period  has  passed  before  us  we 
find  ourselves  in  a  scene  of  water,  water  everywhere. 

True,  there  is  a  line  of  shore  where  strange  ferns  and 
unknown  club-mosses  and  reed-like  plants  are  grow- 
ing ;  but  these  only  border  the  vast  water-world,  and 
we  have  reason  to  believe  that  no  living  animal  wanders 
over  that  wild  and  barren  country.  But  the  water 
itself  is  full  of  life,  though  its  inhabitants  are  of  low 
kinds,  as  if  Nature  herself  was  as  yet  only  half-awake. 


THE  SEAS  OF  AGES  LONG  AGO.  37 

Rich  and  rare  seaweeds  carpet  the  floor  of  the 
ocean,  mingled  with  delicate  flint-sponges  and  old 
massive  corals  ;  beautiful  feather-stars  in  the  form  of 
rooted  stone-lilies  wave  their  slender  arms  ;  greedy 
star- fish,  grazing  sea-urchins,  and  all  their  many 
relations,  grope  upon  the  rocks  ;  and  sea-snails  crawl 
or  float  in  countless  numbers.  The  Nautilus,  too,  is 
there,  with  curious  half-uncoiled  companions  of  forms 
we  have  never  seen  before ;  and  huge  sea-woodlice, 
the  Trilobites  of  olden  time  with  their  three-ridged 
shields,  burrow  in  the  sand,  or  roll  themselves  up  at 
the  bottom  of  the  water.  And  above  all  these,  among 
many  kinds  of  armour-covered  animals,  a  huge  form, 
nine  feet  long,  like  a  lobster,  with  an  imperfect  head, 
rows  himself  along  with  his  oar-like  hind  feet,  seizing 
the  smaller  creatures  with  his  long  nipping  claws  in 
front.  For  we  have  travelled  back  to  a  time  when 
the  crustaceans  were  the  most  powerful  animals  in 
the  world,  and  the  huge  lobster-like  Pterygotus  was 
the  monarch  of  the  seas. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  a  scene  such  as  this  that 
we  first  find  the  feeble  ancestors  of  the  Sturgeon  and 
the  Shark  beginning  to  make  their  way  in  the  world. 
It  may  be  that  creatures  such  as  the  sea-squirts,  the 
lancelet,  anc[  the  lamprey,  were  there  to  bear  them 
company,  but  these  soft  animals  could  leave  no  trace 
behind  except  the  tiny  teeth  of  the  lampreys ;  for 
they  had  no  enamelled  plates  like  the  plated  fish,  no 
hard  teeth-spines  like  the  sharks,  which  could  be- 
come buried  in  the  soft  mud  when  they  died,  and 
remain,  together  with  the  hard  shell  of  their  ene- 
my the  Pterygotus,  to  be  dug  out  now  in  our  day 
and  bear  witness  to  the  fight  they  fought.  But 


38  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

the  plated-scaled  fish  had  something  to  leave  behind, 
and  from  their  remains  we  can  picture  to  ourselves  a 
group  of  clumsy  fish  scarcely  a  foot  long,  with  hind 
fins  like  paddles  and  single-fringe  fins  on  their  back, 
with  enamelled  lozenge-shaped  plates  on  their  bodies 
and  unevenly  pointed  tails.  These  fish  would  keep 
well  out  of  the  way  of  the  Pterygotus,  because  they 
were  small  and  weak  and  he  was  large  and  strong. 
We  may  imagine  them  gliding  among  the  seaweeds, 
and  hugging  the  shore  as  they  chewed  the  plants  with 
their  flat-ridged  teeth,  for  their  skeletons  were  pro- 
bably feeble  and  their  armour-like  shields  were  heavy, 
and  they  would  not  be  so  active  as  the  little  shark- 
like  animals,  not  bigger  than  a  half-pound  perch,  with 
tough  skins  and  sharp  spines,  which  swam  more  boldly 
out  to  sea.  These  more  active  fish  were  the  founders 
of  the  shark  group,  and  those  sharp  spines,  together 
sometimes  with  the  tough  skin,  remained  buried  in 
the  mud,  and  have  come  down  to  us  as  fossils.* 

We  should  find  it  difficult  to  say  exactly  to  what 
class  all  these  early  fish  belonged,  for  there  were  very 
few  kinds,  and  therefore  fewer  distinctions,  between 
them  in  those  days ;  and  many  peculiarities  which  after- 
wards appear  in  different  groups  either  did  not  exist  or 
were  united  in  one  fish.  It  is  enough  for  us  that  they 
were  the  ancestors  of  our  sharks  and  sturgeons  and 
mud-fish  of  to-day  ;  and  though  they  were  but  small 
and  weak,  yet  they  were  the  beginning  of  a  powerful 
race  of  creatures,  for  they  had  the  great  advantage 
of  a  growing  inside  skeleton,  which  could  vary  and 
strengthen  with  their  bodies  from  generation  to  gene- 
ration, while  their  rivals,  the  Pterygotus  and  his  com- 

*  Ichthyodorulites. 


LARGE  FISH  OF  THE  ANCIENT  SEAS.        39 

panions,  had  only  their  heavy  cumbrous  armour  with 
a  mass  of  soft  flesh  inside,  and  were  but  lumbering 
creatures  at  best. 

And  so  we  find  that  as  thousands  and  thousands 
of  years  rolled  by,  the  descendants  of  the  enamel- 
shielded  fish  began  to  improve,  and  became  larger 
and  more  powerful  as  the  generations  passed  on,  till 
they  became  masters  of  the  shallow  seas,  and  after 
awhile  of  the  rivers  and  lakes.  By  the  time  that  the 
first  air-breathing  creatures,  the  May-flies  and  Dragon- 
flies,  had  found  their  way  out  of  the  water  into  the 
forests  of  pines  and  tree-ferns  on  the  land,  and  left 
their  tender  wings  in  the  soft  ground  of  the  ponds  and 
lakes,  large  fishes*  whose  tails  were  uneven-pointed 
like  the  sturgeon, — whose  bodies  were  covered  with 
lozenge-shaped  enamelled  scales  and  their  heads  with 
shields, — were  grazing  along  the  shores  and  in  the 
rivers  and  bays,  with  probably  swarms  of  smaller 
kinds  which  have  left  no  traces  behind. 

These  were  peaceable  fish  which  fed  upon  plants, 
and  among  them  were  some  curious  forms  with 
paddle-like  fins  and  broad -ridged  teeth,  which,  as 
they  swam  under  the  shade  of  the  huge  forest  trees, 
would  come  to  the  top  and  take  in  air  through  their 
mouth.  These  were  the  distant  ancestors  of  our 
present  mud-fishes,  and  through  all  the  passing  ages, 
from  the  time  of  the  coal  forests  till  now,  they  have 
kept  their  fish -like  form,  so  that  we  have  their 
descendants  among  us  now  in  the  Australian  Cerato- 
dus  and  the  mud-loving  Protopterus  of  the  Nile. 

But  besides  these  gentle  vegetarians  there  were 
in  the  sea  huge  enamel-scaled  monsters,  with  terrible 

*  Dipterus. 


40  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

jaws  and  gigantic  teeth,  floundering  about  and 
making  great  havoc  among  the  crab -like  animals. 
One  of  these,  whose  head-shield  has  been  found  in 
the  ancient  rocks  of  Ohio  in  America,*  must  have 
been  at  least  fifteen  feet  long,  with  a  huge  head, 
three  feet  long  and  a  foot  and  a  half  broad  ;  and 
no  doubt  there  were  many  others  like  him,  having  a 
fine  time  of  it  now  that  they  were  the  strongest  crea- 
tures living.  For  this  was  the  Golden  Age  of  fishes, 
just  before  the  time  when  the  coal-forests  grew ;  and 
the  clumsy  crab-like  animals,  and  the  trilobites,  which 
had  had  their  innings  when  the  fish  were  small,  now 
began  gradually  to  be  exterminated  by  their  power- 
ful enemies.  Little  by  little  they  gave  up  the  battle 
of  life,  and  the  larger  ones  died  out  altogether,  leaving 
only  those  smaller  crustaceans  which  did  not  clash 
with  the  fish. 

So  time  passed  on.  The  coal-forests  grew,  and 
died  away  and  were  buried  ;  and  as  the  ages  rolled 
by  a  still  stronger  class  of  animals  began  to  grow 
up  which  was  to  pay  back  upon  the  enamel-scaled 
fish  the  vengeance  they  had  wreaked  upon  the 
crustaceans.  For  in  the  coal  forests  we  first  meet 
with  creatures  like  our  newts  and  salamanders,  and 
after  these  came  the  true  air-breathing  reptiles  (see 
Chap,  v.),  which  swarmed  over  land  and  sea.  There 
were  the  fish -lizards,  with  their  strong  swimming 
paddles  and  sharp  teeth,  and  the  swan-like  lizards, 
with  their  long  necks,  which  enabled  them  to  strike 
their  prey  in  the  water  ;  and  these,  together  with  the 
flying -lizards,  and  the  huge  dragon -like  reptiles 
which  haunted  the  shore,  made  the  life  of  the 

*  Dinichthys. 


LARGE  FISH  OF  THE  ANCIENT  SEAS.        41 

heavily-moving  enamelled  fish  a  burden  to  them. 
So  they,  in  their  turn,  began  to  give  way,  and  be- 
came smaller  and  rarer  as  the  history  went  on,  till 
at  the  time  when  the  chalk-building  animals  were  at 
work  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  we  begin  to  lose  sight 
of  all  but  those  few  forms  which  linger  still.  It  was 
about  this  time  that  the  Sturgeon,  as  we  now  know 
him,  became  the  chief  representative  of  these  old  car- 
tilaginous fishes,  and  to  this  day  he  and  his  children 
go  on  travelling  up  the  rivers  of  Europe,  Asia,  and 
America,  or  crossing  from  sea  to  sea — a  living  example 
of  those  ancient  races  which  ruled  the  seas  of  long  ago. 
The  history  of  the  small  shark-like  animals  was 
rather  different.  They  too  grew  strong  and  power- 
ful before  the  reptiles  came,  and  they  did  not  after- 
wards lose  much  of  their  greatness.  With  the  wide 
ocean  for  their  home,  and  not  troubled  with  the 
heavy  enamelled  plates  of  their  companions,  they 
kept  clear  of  the  monster  reptiles,  or  struggled  with 
them  bravely.  Some  took  to  the  open  sea,  and 
from  them  are  descended  the  giant  sharks  of  to-day 
which  still  remain  masters  of  the  ocean.  Others 
still  lingered  near  the  shore,  where  we  find  quite 
new  forms  springing  up  ;  some,  like  the  Chimaera 
or  "  King  of  the  Herrings,"  formed  a  group  of  their 
own,  half-way  between  sharks  and  sturgeons  ;  and 
some,  slightly  flattened  like  the  huge  Monk -fish, 
hide  themselves  in  the  loose  sand  when  seeking  their 
prey.  Others,  the  Skates  and  Rays,  with  flat  bodies, 
and  long  tails  serving  as  rudders,  shoved  smoothly 
along  with  a  wavy  flapping  motion  of  their  broad 
arm-fins.  These  too  lie  chiefly  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,  where  their  dusky  colour  hides  them  both  from 


42  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

the  fish  they  would  wish  to  attack  and  those  that 
would  attack  them  ;  for  while  the  sharks  trust  to  their 
strength,  the  skates  and  rays  trust  to  stratagem,  and, 
coming  along  stealthily  in  the  shadow,  flap  rapidly 
over  their  prey  and  suck  them  into  their  open 
mouth  below.  And  for  further  protection  we  find 
some  of  them,  such  as  the  Sting-rays,  armed  with 
barbed  spines ;  others,  such  as  the  Torpedo-fish, 
with  electric  batteries  in  their  heads,  which  they  can 
use  to  stun  and  kill  their  enemies ;  while  others 
again,  such  as  the  Saw-fishes  of  the  Tropics,  have 
the  front  part  of  their  skull  lengthened  out  in  a  long 
bony  weapon,  armed  with  teeth,  which  they  use  to 
rip  open  the  bodies  of  their  prey. 

All  these  formidable  fish  are  descendants  of  the 
shark  family,  which,  with  powerful  gristly  backbones, 
strong  fins  and  tails,  and  highly  developed  brains, 
refused  to  be  suppressed  as  their  plated  companions 
were,  but  found  room  in  the  wide  ocean  to  do  battle 
for  themselves,  and  improve  in  many  ways  upon  their 
ancestors.  They  do  not,  like  the  sturgeon  and  the 
bony  fish,  lay  their  thousands  of  eggs,  but  are  content 
with  one  or  two  at  a  time,  such  as  the  leathery  purse- 
eggs  of  the  skate  and  the  rough  hound  shark  ;  or  give 
birth  to  a  dozen  or  twenty  living  young  ones.  Yet 
they  are  so  well  fitted  for  their  life  that  they  flourish 
and  keep  their  ground,  so  that  while  the  enamel-scaled 
fish  and  the  mud-fish  are  small  groups,  many  of 
them  fading  away,  the  sharks  and  rays  bid  fair  to 
be  the  race  which  will  keep  up  the  traditions  of 
those  quaint  old  Fishes  of  ancient  times,  which  were 
once  the  masters  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  BONY  FISH,  AND  HOW  THEY  HAVE  SPREAD  OVER 
SEA  AND  LAKE  AND  RIVER 

WHEN  the  palmy  days  of  the  enamel-scaled  fish  had 
passed  away,  and  the  sharks  and  rays  had  taken  up 
their  various  quarters  in  different  parts  of  the  sea, 
there  still  remained  vast  tracts  and  many  snug  nooks 
and  bays  admirably  fitted  for  fish-life.  But  these 


44  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

were  not  empty,  for  long  before  this  time  another 
order  of  fish — light,  strong,  and  active, — had  been 
pressing  forward  to  take  possession  of  every  vacant 
space. 

If  we  could  dive  under  the  water  and  watch  the 
fishes  at  home  we  should  see  at  once  how  much  more 
agile  and  easy  the  bony  fish  are  in  their  movements 
than  their  gristly  companions.  Look  at  a  shoal  of 
silvery  herrings  as  they  swim  and  leap  and  gambol, 
or  a  fine  salmon  sailing  up  the  river  or  springing 
over  a  waterfall,  or  a  tiny  stickleback  darting  across 
the  stream,  and  compare  their  graceful  motion  with 
the  ponderous  though  powerful  movements  of  an 
unwieldy  shark.  Any  one  who  has  done  this  will 
feel  at  once  that  though  the  sharks  have  still  kept 
their  power  as  tyrants  of  the  sea,  because  they  are  so 
strong  and  big,  yet  these  light  skirmishers  are  much 
more  at  their  ease,  and  move  with  much  less  effort 
in  the  water,  so  that  it  is  natural  they  should  have 
made  their  way  into  all  parts  of  the  rivers  and  seas. 
But  where  have  they  come  from  ?  We  know  very 
little  of  their  early  history,  but  what  little  we  do 
know  leads  us  to  think  that  long  ago  they  branched 
off  from  the  enamel-scaled  fish,  and  struck  out  a  path 
of  their  own  to  make  the  most  of  the  watery  world. 

Turn  back  for  a  moment  to  our  little  minnow,  and 
recall  his  tender  backbone  made  of  joints  hollowed 
out  before  and  behind,  with  cushions  of  gristle 
between  ;  those  cushions,  when  the  minnow  was 
growing  out  of  the  minnow  egg,  were  one  long  gristly 
cord,  like  the  cord  of  the  sturgeon,  and  it  was  only  as 
the  minnow  grew  that  the  bony  joints  hardened  round 
it  and  separated  it.  Moreover,  that  huge  bony  pike 


RISE  AND  SPREAD  OF  BONY  FISH.  45 

which  we  find  now  wandering  in  the  American  lakes 
has  bony  joints  hollowed  out  like  the  minnow's, 
although  by  his  enamel-scales  and  uneven  tail  we 
know  him  to  be  one  of  the  ancient  fishes.  Some 
time  or  other,  then,  the  sturgeon,  the  bony  pike,  and 
the  modern  minnow,  must  have  had  a  common 
ancestor,  though  we  should  have  to  reach  him  through 
millions  of  generations.  In  the  same  way,  too,  we 
find  the  red-folded  gills  covered  by  a  scaly  lid,  both 
in  the  sturgeon  and  the  minnow,  though  in  other 
ways  they  are  not  exactly  alike  ;  while  even  the 
V-shaped  tail  of  the  modern  fish  is  not  so  different 
from  the  ancient  shape  as  it  seems,  for  the  end  of 
the  backbone  runs  up  into  the  top  branch  of  the 
fork  as  it  does  in  the  uneven  tails  of  the  olden  fish. 
Lastly,  the  delicate  rounded  scales  on  our  minnow's 
body  are  not  entirely  the  property  of  bony  fishes, 
for  we  find  such  scales  on  the  mud-fishes,  the  Amia 
and  Ceratodus  (see  p.  33)  ;  while  the  little  modern 
stickleback,  on  the  other  hand,  has  bony  plates,  re- 
minding us  of  those  of  olden  times.  We  see,  then, 
that  the  bony  fish  still  carry  upon  them  many  signs 
of  their  origin  from  the  older  fish,  and  when  once  the 
coast  was  left  clear,  and  they  got  a  fair  start,  we  can 
easily  imagine  that  the  fish  of  this  younger  race 
which  was  still  in  its  childhood,  and  easily  moulded 
to  suit  different  kinds  of  life,  would  press  forward  in 
every  direction  and  make  the  most  of  every  chance. 

And  so  we  find  that  little  by  little,  from  the  time 
of  those  chalk  seas  till  now,  the  remains  of  enamel- 
scaled  fish  grow  rarer  and  rarer  in  the  hardened  mud, 
and  the  bones  and  scales  of  modern  fish  take  their 
place,  till  this  bony  race  has  spread  so  far  and  wide 


46  THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

that  in  our  own  day,  if  we  were  to  start  from  the  head 
of  a  river  and  swim  down  into  the  open  sea  of  the 
Atlantic  or  Pacific,  we  should  meet  on  our  way  bony 
fish  of  all  shapes  and  sizes  and  habits  of  life.  River- 
fish  and  lake-fish  and  sea-fish  ;  shore-fish,  surface- 
swimming  fish,  and  fish  of  the  deep  sea ;  flat-fish 
like  the  sole,  half  hidden  in  the  sand,  and  long 
rounded  fish  like  the  eel,  threading  their  way  through 
holes  and  passages  all  over  the  world  ;  flying  fish 
with  long  arm-fins,  and  clinging  fish  whose  fins  form 
a  sucking  disk  ;  nay,  even  so  strange  a  thing  as  an 
angling-fish,  whose  back  fin  is  turned  into  a  fishing- 
rod  to  attract  his  prey. 

All  these,  during  the  long  ages  since  they  first 
started  in  life,  have  been  learning  to  make  use  of 
some  area  in  the  wide  expanse  of  water  spread  over 
our  globe,  and  it  remains  for  us  now  to  see  how  they 
have  succeeded.  Where  shall  we  make  our  start  ? 
If  we  begin  at  home  in  the  rivers  we  should  have  to 
work,  as  it  were,  backwards,  for  the  sea  is  the  chief 
home  of  fishes,  and  the  rivers  only  the  refuge  of  a 
few  stray  kinds.  The  sea-shore  would  be,  perhaps, 
our  truest  starting-point,  but  then  we  should  have  to 
travel  two  different  ways.  Will  it  not  be  best  to 
dive  down  first  into  the  silent  depths  of  the  ocean, 
and  learn  what  little  is  known  of  those  which  have 
taken  refuge  there  ?  Thence  we  can  rise  up  to  the 
open  sea,  from  there  swim  in  to  the  shore,  and  then 
up  the  rivers  and  back  to  our  own  land-home. 

It  makes  but  little  difference  where  we  take  our 
plunge  into  the  deep  sea,  for  changes  of  climate  are 
scarcely  or  not  at  all  known  there,  and  the  fish  seem  to 
wander  over  every  part  Wherever  it  may  be,  then, 


FISH  OF  THE  DEEP  SEA.  47 

— let  us  say  in  the  seas  of  the  Tropics,  which  have 
given  us  most  of  our  specimens — let  us  dive  down, 
down,  till  we  reach  about  1800  feet  (300  fathoms). 

..."  For  who  can  know 
What  creatures  swim  in  secret  depths  below, 
Unnumber'd  shoals  glide  thro'  the  cold  abyss 
Unseen,  and  wanton  in  unenvied  bliss." 

We  shall  be  groping  more  and  more  in  darkness  as 
we  go,  for  the  sunlight  scarcely  reaches  beyond  I  ooo 
feet,  and  we  have  left  its  last  rays  behind  us,  and  the 
water  is  growing  icy  cold.  How  strange,  then,  that 
the  first  fish  we  meet  should  have  large  wide-open 
eyes !  This  is  the  Beryx,*  shaped  something  like 
a  perch,  but  about  a  foot  and  a  half  long,  and  gene- 
alogists ought  to  look  at  him  with  respect,  for  his 
ancestors  (see  heading  of  Chapter)  are  almost  the 
oldest  known  bony  fish,  and  lived  in  the  chalk  seas. 

Has  he  come  down  here  because  the  upper  world 
was  too  rough  for  him  ?  If  so,  he  has  found  com- 
parative stillness,  for  he  is  far  beneath  the  turmoil 
of  the  waves,  and  only  the  slowly  creeping  currents 
make  any  movement  around  him.  But  he  has  not 
escaped  from  the  struggle  for  life,  for  not  only  is  a 
good-sized  shark  coming  his  way,  but  a  huge  monster 
of  the  bony  race,  six  feet  long,*  with  wide-opened 
jaw,  sharp  pointed  teeth,  and  large  keen  eyes,  is 
wandering  near  in  search  of  prey,  devouring  large 
and  small  fish  with  great  impartiality. 

Still  in  the  dense  darkness  the  Beryx  must  surely 
escape  ?  No  !  for,  strangely  enough,  lights  are  tra- 
velling about  in  this  midnight  region.  The  monster 

*  See  Frontispiece.  I,  Chauliodus ;  2,  9,  10,  II,  Harpodon  or 
Bombay  Duck  ;  3,  Plagiodus ;  4,  Chiasmodus,  with  a  Scopelus  in  its 
stomach  ;  6,  Beryx  ;  8,  Scopelus. 


48  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

himself  carries  lamps  upon  his  body,  and  a  shoal  of 
small  oblong  fish,  something  of  the  size  and  shape  of 
a  gudgeon,  come  swimming  by,  carrying  on  their  sides 
whole  rows  of  shining  spots  giving  out  phosphorescent 
light ;  while  not  far  off  another  fish,  called  in  India  the 
Bombay  duck,  glows  all  over,  as  if  his  whole  body  had 
been  rubbed  in  phosphorus.  Nay  !  so  far  as  we  know 
the  Beryx  himself  is  probably  gleaming  with  light,  for 
his  body  is  covered  with  a  large  quantity  of  the  same 
slimy  fluid  which  makes  the  "  Bombay  duck  "  phos- 
phorescent when  he  is  freshly  drawn  out  of  the  sea. 

So  these  curious  fish,  living  in  eternal  darkness 
except  when  they  make  an  expedition  to  the  surface, 
carry  many  of  them  their  own  lights  ;  and  as  we  go 
deeper  still  more  and  more  of  them  are  found  with 
shining  mother-of-pearl-like  spots  on  their  head,  or 
sides,  or  tail,  so  that  the  very  darkness  is  alive  with 
light.  What  slaughter  and  hunting  there  is  among 
them !  for  they  all  eat  each  other,  and  even  their  own 
young,  there  being  no  plants  for  any  of  them  to  feed 
on.  There  are  the  deep-sea  cod-fish  ;  strange  forms 
with  large  heads,  long  tapering  tails,  and  thread-like 
fins,  chasing  the  smaller  fish,  and  falling  victims 
themselves  to  the  fierce  Stomias  which  comes  sailing 
along  with  its  row  of  glowing  lights,  and  its  huge 
sharp  teeth,  ready  to  seize  its  prey.  Both  these  fish 
go  down  as  deep  as  ten  thousand  feet  and  more, 
accompanied  by  another  fish  quite  as  ferocious, 
though  only  a  foot  long,  with  large  teeth  sticking 
out  of  its  mouth  like  the  tusks  of  a  boar,  and  curious 
round  spots,  with  lenses  in  them,  on  its  side,  which 
may  be  eyes,  or  may  be  lanterns  to  light  it  on  its 
road  ;  and  among  these  luminous  fishes  are  wriggling 


FISH  OF  THE  DEEP  SEA.  49 

along  the  deep-sea  Conger  eels,  with  toothless  mouths 
and  elastic  stomachs,  swallowing  large  fish  whole  ; 
while  another  curious  cod-like  fish,  whose  stomach 
can  stretch  to  more  than  four  times  its  natural  size, 
draws  itself  over  its  prey  just  as  a  snake  does,  and 
carries  it  in  the  hanging  bag  till  it  is  digested.  And 
deeper  yet  in  the  dead  calm  water  roam  many  fishes 
with  delicate  feelers  hanging  from  their  mouths,  while 
their  fins  are  slender  and  tapering,  so  that  they  feel 
their  way  along  the  still  depths.  Among  these  are  the 
Ribbon-fish,  twenty  feet  long  but  only  a  foot  deep, 
and  never  more  than  two  inches  thick  in  any  part, 
with  their  long  rosy  fins  floating  like  ribbons  back 
from  their  heads  and  from  under  the  body.* 

Strange  monsters  are  all  these  deep-sea  fish,  some 
of  them  living  as  much  as  1 6,000  feet  under  the  sur- 
face of  the  sea,  so  that  if  Switzerland  were  turned 
upside  down  in  mid-ocean,  the  peak  of  Mont  Blanc 
would  not  reach  down  to  where  they  swim.  Yet 
they  are  only  modified  forms  of  ordinary  fish  from 
the  world  above,  which  have  become  fitted  to  live 
under  that  vast  pressure  of  water.  Their  skeletons, 
though  bony  and  well-knit  together  at  that  depth, 
are  fibrous  and  slight  compared  to  those  of  their  sur- 
face relations,  for  although  they  have  to  resist  a  weight 
of  from  two  to  sixteen  tons  pressing  all  round  them,  a 
ton  weight  being  added  for  every  thousand  feet,  no 
special  strength  is  required,  because  the  dense  water 
permeates  their  whole  structure,  and  the  pressures 
are  everywhere  equal.  It  is  the  same  with  them  as 

*  In  drawing  up  this  sketch  of  the  deep  sea  I  am  almost  entirely 
indebted  to  Dr.  Giinther's  masterly  sketch  of  the  deep-sea  fish  in  his 
excellent  work. 


50  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

with  the  most  delicate  and  fragile  insects  living  in 
our  atmosphere,  the  pressure  of  which  would  tear 
them  to  pieces  if  unbalanced  by  equal  pressures 
within  and  without. 

But  when  these  deep-sea  fishes  are  brought  up 
quickly  to  the  surface,  the  outside  pressure  no  longer 
balances  that  inside,  and  so  their  tissues  loosen 
and  their  whole  framework  starts  apart,  so  that  they 
almost  fall  to  pieces  at  a  touch ;  and  their  air- 
bladder,  if  they  have  one,  expands  so  much  as  to 
force  the  stomach  out  of  the  mouth,  turning  them 
almost  inside  out.  Neither  are  their  lanterns  a 
special  creation  for  their  use,  but  merely  adaptations 
of  that  slimy  fluid  which  we  saw  oozing  from  the 
scales  of  the  minnow.  In  some  of  the  deep-sea  fish 
even  the  outer  bones  are  filled  with  this  fluid,  and 
the  line  of  scales  along  the  side  has  large  openings, 
so  that  the  body  is  bathed  in  glowing  slime.  In 
others  it  collects  in  glands  on  the  sides,  making  the 
phosphorescent  spots. 

In  this  way  the  deep-sea  fish  have  become  fitted 
to  make  a  home  in  the  very  heart  of  the  ocean. 
Some  with  large  eyes,  seeing  by  means  of  their  own 
and  their  neighbours'  light,  others  with  small  eyes 
and  delicate  feelers,  testing  each  step  as  they  go,  and 
feeding,  probably,  on  the  shower  of  minute  sea- 
animals  that  falls  continually  from  above  ;  while  some, 
like  the  Beryx,  the  Bombay  Duck,  and  the  light- 
carrying  Scopelus,  which  live  nearer  the  top,  come 
up  on  still  nights  to  feed  at  the  surface  of  the  sea. 

And  now,  as  we  rise  again  from  the  dark  still 
depths  up  to  warm  layers  of  the  tropical  seas  into 
which  the  sun  is  pouring  his  penetrating  rays,  it  may 


THE  RE  MORA.  51 

happen  that  a  large  dark  body  moves  between  us 
and  the  surface,  as  the  Great  Blue  Shark,  or  one  of 
his  smaller  relations,  ploughs  his  way  through  the 
water.  But  what  are  these  little  dark  brown  fish, 
with  round  gaping  mouths,  which  are  hanging  by  the 
top  of  their  head  and  back  from  under  the  shark's 
belly  ?  (see  Fig.  9).  Where  he  goes  they  go  with  him, 

Fig.  9. 


Remoras  *  clinging  by  their  sucking-disk  to  the  under  part  of  a 
.    shark. — (Adapted from  Brehm. ) 

and,  as  they  are  borne  along,  they  feed  upon  the  tiny 
sea-animals  among  which  they  are  carried  so  easily. 
These  cunning  passengers,  of  whose  very  existence 
the  shark  seems  unconscious,  are  the  Remoras,  or 
sucking-fish.  You  would  scarcely  think  that  they 

*   Echeneis  remora. 


52  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

belong  by  descent  to  the  mackerel  tribe,  a  strong- 
swimming,  active,  and  almost  warm-blooded  group  of 
fish,  with  a  large  supply  of  nerves  and  blood-vessels 
to  their  muscles,  so  that  they  swim  boldly  out  to  sea, 
and  make  more  use  of  the  open  ocean  than  almost 
any  other  group.  But  among  all  tribes  there  will  be 
some  weak  members,  and  these  must  live  by  strata- 
gem. The  little  remora  is  a  feeble  swimmer,  and,  hav- 
ing to  live  out  at  sea,  has  acquired  a  curious  sucker 
by  which  he  clings  to  sharks,  and  whales,  and  even 
ships,  so  that  he  is  carried  along  without  exertion.  Yet 
this  sucker,  again,  is  only  a  special  adaptation  of  the 
back-fin,  which,  instead  of  being  single,  as  in  other 
mackerel,  has  its  spines  divided  and  bent,  one  set  to 
the  left,  the  other  to  the  right,  and  joined  by  a  double 
set  of  plates,  surrounded  by  a  fringe  of  skin.  This 
forms  an  oval  disk,  and,  as  the  remora  glides  along 
under  the  shark's  belly,  he  presses  the  damp  mem- 
brane against  the  fish,  and,  drawing  together  the 
muscles  of  the  plates,  clings  as  firmly  as  a  limpet  to 
a  rock. 

Nor   is   the   remora  the  only  companion   of  the 
shark — 

"  Bold  in  the  front  the  little  Pilot  glides, 

Averts  each  danger,  every  movement  guides;" 

for  the  little  steel-blue  striped  Pilot-fish,*  another 
distant  connection  of  the  mackerel  tribe,f  is  hovering 
around,  feeding  upon  the  scraps  of  the  shark's  food, 
and  finding  protection  in  his  neighbourhood,  though 
in  olden  times  he  was  supposed  to  protect  the  shark. 

*  Naucrates. 

f  In  this  description  I  am  not  alluding  simply  to  the  mackerel 
family  Scombridae,  but  to  that  much  larger  group  Cotto-Scombriformes, 
to  which  so  many  ocean  fish  belong,  and  even  the  sword-fish  is  allied. 


FLYING  FISH.  53 

A  brave  little  fish  this,  which  has  succeeded  in  making 
the  shark  his  friend  :  while  near  him  he  is  safe  from 
other  fishes. 

And  now,  as  we  continue  our  way  in  the  open 
sea,  it  is  nearly  always  forms  more  or  less  related 
to  the  mackerel  tribe  which  cross  our  path.  The 
slender  Bonito  *  and  the  heavier  Tunny  t  some- 
times ten  feet  long,  are  hunting  below  or  on  the  sur- 
face, and  the  beautiful  Dorados^  or  gold-mackerel, 
as  the  Germans  call  them,  with  their  silvery  blue 
backs  tinged  with  a  sheen  of  gold,  their  dull-coloured 
fins,  and  their  golden  eyes,  are  driving  by  in  large 
shoals  in  pursuit  of  the  flying-flsh.  All  these  are  power- 
ful swimmers,  and  they  have  no  air-bladder,  which  is 
an  advantage  to  such  active  hunters  which  wish  to 
turn  rapidly,  to  go  down  deep  or  rise  to  the  top,  and 
change  their  position  at  every  moment ;  for  in  all 
these  movements  a  natural  float  inside  is  a  hindrance 
to  be  overcome.  And  so  we  find  that  in  fish,  even 
of  the  same  family,  some  have  lost  the  air-bladder, 
while  others  have  it  enlarged  to  meet  their  wants, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  lovely  blue  and  silver  sun-fish  § 
for  example,  which,  though  quite  near  relations  of 
the  dorado,  have  very  large  air-bladders,  enabling 
them  to  float  quietly  on  the  top  of  the  water,  waving 
their  deep  scarlet  fins. 

But  while  we  are  watching  all  these  large  and  strong 
swimmers  an  active  and  bloodthirsty  struggle  is  going 
on,  for  the  bonitos  and  the  dorados  are  looking  to  make 
their  meal  upon  the  little  Flying-fish,  which  are  strain- 
ing every  nerve  to  escape  them,  while  here  and  there 

*  Thynnus  pelamys.  +  Thynnus  thynnus. 

Coryphaena.  §  Lampris  luna. 


54 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


one  drops  down  into  their  very  mouths.  Lovely  little 
creatures  these  are,  of  the  Pike  family,  which  have 
taken  to  the  open  sea,  where  they  rise  with  a  stroke 
of  the  tail  many  feet  out  of  the  water,  their  bright 
purple  backs  and  silvery  sides  gleaming  in  the  sun,  as, 
with  their  long  transparent  arm-fins  outspread,  they 

Fig.  10. 


Flying-Fish*  pursued  by  the  Dorado. f 

float  for  as  much  as  two  hundred  yards  before  they 
fall  back,  to  spring  up  again  with  another  stroke. 
Their  air-bladder,  which  is  half  as  long  as  their  body, 
and  contains  in  a  six-inch  fish  as  much  as  three  and 


Exoccetus. 


f  Coryphsena. 


THE  MACKEREL  TRIBE.  55 

a  half  cubic  inches  of  gas,  stands  them  in  good  stead, 
and  they  rise  and  fall  with  quick  rapid  flights  out  of 
the  reach  of  their  foe,  so  that  in  the  open  sea  they  do 
fairly  well  on  the  whole,  though,  if  they  venture  near 
land,  the  sea-birds  persecute  them  in  the  air.  Nor 
do  they  stand  alone  in  this  curious  habit  of  flying, 
or  rather  floating,  in  the  air,  for  a  larger  fish  of  quite 
another  family,  the  "Flying  Gurnards,"*  with  a  smaller 
but  still  ample  air-bladder,  and  long  arm-fins,  may 
also  be  seen  rising  in  the  Mediterranean  and  tropical 
seas,  out  of  reach  of  the  fish-hunters  of  the  water. 

And  now  we  must  leave  the  open  sea  and  steer 
for  the  shore.  It  is  true  that  many  other  fish  are 
wandering  in  the  broad  watery  main,  but  many  of 
them,  such  as  the  globe-fish,  feeding  on  the  small 
crustaceans  and  the  sea-horses,f  whom  we  shall  meet 
nearer  shore,  are  feeble  forms  carried  hither  and 
thither  by  currents  or  on  floating  banks  of  seaweed, 
while  others  have  no  special  interest.  The  sharks, 
the  mackerel,  and  the  flying-fish,  «are  the  most  re- 
markable colonisers  of  the  ocean-surface,  for  even 
the  enormous  S word-fish,  J  which  attacks  the  bonitos 
and  whales  with  its  long  wedge-shaped  bony  jaw, 
and  is  said  to  sail  by  raising  his  back-fin,  is  a  distant 
off-shoot  of  the  mackerel  tribe. 

So  we  cannot  do  better  than  follow  our  own 
common  Mackerel,  as  they  migrate  in  shoals  put  of 
the  deep  sea  to  feed  on  the  fry  of  the  herring  or  the 
pilchard  in  shallower  water,  or  to  leave  their  eggs 
floating  not  many  miles  from  land,  so  that  the  tiny 
mackerel,  when  hatched,  may  live  in  the  quiet  bays 
till  their  strength  comes. 

*  Dactylopterus.  f  Hippocampus.  $  Xiphias. 


56  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

But  stop !  Long  before  we  have  come  so  far  as 
this,  and  while  we  are  still  a  hundred  miles  or  more 
from  the  shore,  let  us  peep  down  into  the  sea-valleys, 
where  forests  of  seaweed  and  marine  plants  are 
growing,  and  myriads  of  tiny  sea-lice  and  crustaceans 
throng  the  water.  What  is  that  army  of  thin  spindle- 
shaped  forms  rising  and  falling  in  such  numbers? 
It  is  a  shoal  of  herring,  which  have  come  there  to 
feed  upon  the  sea-animals,  keeping  out  of  sight  of  the 
sea-birds  above,  and  the  cod  and  sharks  and  ravenous 
fish  which  hunt  them  without  mercy,  so  that  they 
only  venture  to  come  to  the  surface  on  calm  dark 
nights.  It  was  in  valleys  such  as  these  that  the  her- 
rings were  living  when  the  older  naturalists  thought 
they  were  gone  away  to  the  Polar  Seas,  because  they 
only  saw  them  in  spring  and  autumn,  when  they 
come  into  shallower  water  to  drop  their  myriads  of 
eggs,*  which  sink  down,  and  stick  to  the  seaweed 
and  stones  below. 

But  now  they  are  revelling  in  the  deep  ocean, 
rising  and  falling  with  ease,  for  their  air-bladder  has 
two  openings,  one  to  the  stomach  and  one  to  the  out- 
side of  the  body,  so  that  the  gas  can  adjust  itself  to 
their  movements  ;  and  surely  if  the  shark  is  the  type 
of  the  old,  lumbering,  powerful,  slow -breeding  fish, 
the  herring,  with  its  narrow  lissome  body,  light  play- 
ful movements,  and  myriads  of  young,  is  the  type  of 
the  new  and  active  race.  They  are  as  truly  social 
animals  as  any  herds  on  land,  for  they  travel  in  shoals 
of  many  hundreds  of  millions  ;  and  as  they  can  squeak, 
and  have  a  very  good  apparatus  for  hearing,  it  is 
more  than  likely  that  they  call  to  each  other.  They 

*  At  least  10,000  for  each  mother. 


COAST-FISH.  57 

make  both  the  salt  and  fresh  water  their  own  ;  for 
when  the  eggs  are  hatched  at  the  mouths  of  rivers 
the  tiny  fish  take  refuge  there  from  the  violent  per- 
secutions of  the  cod  and  mullet  and  haddock,  flat-fish 
and  whiting,  and,  together  with  the  small  fry  of  other 
fish,  stroll  up  the  rivers,  where  we  call  them  "white- 
bait." 

And  now,  as  we  come  nearer  to  the  shore,  where 
countless  numbers  of  small  fry  are  filling  the  water, 
and  all  creatures  are  struggling  together  to  accom- 
plish three  objects,  namely,  to  get  food,  to  avoid 
being  turned  into  food,  and  to  lay  their  eggs,  we  find 
many  strange  weapons  and  devices  adopted  by  the 
different  fish  for  protection  and  attack. 

"  Each  bay 

With  fry  innumerable  swarms,  and  shoals 
Of  fish,  that  with  their  fins  and  shining  scales 
Glide  under  the  green  waves,  in  sculls  that  oft 
Bank  the  mid  sea." 

There  are  the  Mullets,*  with  tender  feelers  under  their 
chin,  with  which  they  brush  the  ground  lightly  as 
they  swim,  feeding  on  the  tiny  creatures.  There  are 
the  walking  fish,  the  Gurnards,!  which  have  three  of 
the  spines  of  their  arm-fins  separate,  and  moved  by 
strong  muscles  and  nerves,  so  that  they  can  walk  on 
the  sea-bottom,  feeling  their  way,  while  the  stiff,  spiny 
rays  of  their  back-fin  stand  up  to  wound  any  enemy 
attacking  them  from  above.  There  are  the  tiny 
Blennies  which  walk  too,  but  by  means  of  the  few 
rays  which  alone  remain  of  their  leg-fins  growing 
close  under  the  head.  Then  there  are  the  clinging- 
fish,  the  Gobies,  J  living  on  the  rocky  shores,  where 

*  Mullus.  f  Trigla.  J  Gobidae. 

4 


58  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

the  waves  beat  and  roar,  and  they  have  their  leg-fins 
joined  together,  so  as  to  form  a  kind  of  funnel  under 
their  throat,  with  which  they  cling  to  the  rocks  and 
then  dart  across  the  waves  to  feed,  coming  to  anchor 
again  out  of  the  dash  of  the  water  ;  some  of  these 
little  fellows  make  nests  and  guard  their  eggs  after 
the  mother  has  left  them,  till  the  young  can  shift  for 
themselves.  More  curious  still,  the  Lumpsucker*  has 
its  arm-fins  and  leg-fins  all  joined  together  into  a 
round  disk  under  the  throat,  and  so  holds  on  bravely 
against  the  dashing  tide,  defending  the  eggs  which 
have  been  laid  in  the  seaweed  near  the  shore,  and 
even  remaining  to  take  up  the  young  ones  when 
hatched,  and  carry  them  safely  back  into  deep  water 
as  they  cling  to  his  sides. 

Meanwhile,  close  down  upon  the  sand  are  the 
hiding-fish,  the  Weevers,  the  Anglers,  and  the  Flat- 
fish. 

The  weevers  t  are  the  most  dangerous.  Their 
shaded  yellow  colour  hides  them  from  view,  while  the 
sharp  spines  of  their  back-fins,  which  they  keep  raised, 
will  inflict  very  severe,  if  not  poisonous,  wounds  on 
any  creature  striking  against  them.  Nor  is  this 
all,  for  behind  the  cheeks,  fastened  on  to  the  horny 
gill  cover,  are  daggers  with  which  they  can  strike, 
deliberately  jerking  them  back  so  as  to  give  a  sharp 
blow.  These  are  fighting  aggressive  fish,  waging  the 
war  that  goes  on  so  sharply  all  round  our  coasts. 

But  there  is  one  even  more  cunning  than  they, 
lying  hidden  in  the  seaweed  or  the  sand — a  large, 
flat,  soft  fish,  about  three  feet  in  length,  and  quite 
half  as  broad  as  he  is  long,  with  a  soft  stumpy 

*  Cyclopterus.  t  Tracliinidoe. 


THE  FISHING  FROG. 


59 


tail,  stretching  out  behind,  and  a  kind  of  wrist- 
joint  to  arm  and  leg  fins,  by  which  he  can  creep 
noiselessly  along.  His  wide  mouth  is  gaping  open, 
so  that  a  two-foot  rule  could  be  passed  crossways 
into  it,  and  his  pointed  teeth  .are  bent  back  to 
allow  his  prey  to  enter.  But  how  is  this  prey  to  be 

Fig.  ii. 


The  Fishing  Frog.* 

caught,  for  he  is  not  going  to  move  to  fetch  it  ? 
Notice  all  round  his  head  and  his  body,  the  skin  is 
fringed  like  blades  of  seaweed  and  plays  about  in 
the  water  ;  while  above  his  head  and  back  the  spines 
of  his  fin  stand  up  quite  separate,  and  the  front  one 

*  Lophius  piscatorius. 


60  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

is  tapering  and  long  like  a  fishing-rod,  with  a  lappet 
at  the  end  like  a  bait.  And  now,  as  the  shallow 
water  ripples  over  his  head,  the  lappet  plays  to  and 
fro,  and  the  unwary  fish  come  up  to  nibble  at  it, 
lower  and  lower  he  waves  it,  and  the  nibblers  follow, 
till,  opening  his  wide  gape,  he  gulps  them  down,  even 
if  they  are  as  large  as  himself,  and  lies  passive  with 
his  swollen  stomach  till  they  are  digested.  This  is 
our  own  Fishing-frog,*  of  which  one  was  once  found 
with  seventy  herrings  in  his  stomach.  He  has  rela- 
tions all  over  the  world — in  the  open  sea  and  down 
in  its  depths,  and  all  of  them  more  or  less  follow  his 
fishing  habits.  Yet  there  is  no  creation  of  special 
parts  for  these  strange  weapons  ;  the  altered  back-fin 
and  the  jagged  skin  do  all  the  work,  just  as  in  some 
curious  fish  of  the  weever  family  in  the  tropics, 
called  the  Stargazers,t  the  feelers  on  their  lips, 
longer  than  those  of  other  fishes,  and  a  lengthened 
thread  from  below  the  tongue,  play  in  the  watery 
currents  and  attract  the  small  animals,  while  the  fish 
with  upturned  eyes  watches  them  as  they  are  lured 
to  destruction. 

Lastly,  among  all  these  curious  forms  upon  our 
shores  there  is  an  abundance  of  flat-fish — soles 
and  turbot,  brill  and  plaice — flapping  along  at  the 
bottom,  covering  themselves  with  sand,  or  rising  up 
with  that  strange  wavy  movement  of  the  whole  body 
in  which  they  use  what  look  like  long  side-fins,  but 
which  are  really  the  back-fin  and  the  belly-fin. 

If  we  wanted  to  pick  out  the  strangest  and  strong- 
est proof  of  how  the  shape  of  fish  is  altered  to  suit 
their  wants,  we  need  seek  no  further  than  the  flat-fish. 

*  Lophius.  t  Uranoscopus. 


STRUCTURE  OF  FLAT-FISH. 


61 


When  we  were  speaking  of  the  shark  order  we  saw 
that  the  rays  and  skates  are  flattened  forms  suited  to 
hide  in  the  sand,  and  these  fish  are  truly  spread  out 
as  if  they  had  been  squeezed  under  a  heavy  weight, 
their  broad  arm-fins  edging  the  sides  of  their  body. 
But  the  bony  flat-fish,  the  Soles  and  Turbot,  have  a 
far  stranger  history.  The  young  sole,  when  it  comes 


The  Common  Sole.* 

Above  are  two  small  soles  as  they  swim  when  young.  At  that  time 
they  are  not  larger  than  a  grain  of  rice. — (Adapted  from  Figuier  and 
Malm.} 


out  of  the  egg,  is  not  flat  like  the  young  skate,  but  a 
very  thin  spindle-shaped  fish,  something  like  a 
minnow.  He  is  then  about  the  size  of  a  grain  of 
rice,  very  transparent,  and  lives  at  the  top  of  the  sea. 

*  Solea  vulgaris. 


62  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

He  has  one  eye  on  each  side,  like  other  fish,  only  one 
eye  is  higher  up  than  the  other,  and  the  single  fin 
on  its  back  and  the  one  under  its  body  reach  almost 
from  head  to  tail.  In  this  way  he  swims  for  about  a 
week,  but  he  is  so  thin  and  deep,  and  his  fins  are  so 
small,  that  swimming  edgeways  is  an  effort,  and  soon 
he  falls  down  on  one  side,  generally  the  left,  to  the 
bottom  of  the  sea.  Many  times  he  rises  up  again, 
especially  at  first,  till  he  has  got  used  to  breathing  at 
the  muddy  bottom,  and  meanwhile  the  eye  that  lies 
underneath  is  gradually  working  its  way  round  to 
the  upper  side,  his  forehead  wrinkles  so  as  to  draw 
the  under  eye  up,  while  his  whole  -head  and  mouth 
receive  a  twist  which  he  never  afterwards  loses.  His 
skeleton,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  still  very  soft, 
and  the  bones  of  his  face  are  easily  bent ;  and  at  last 
this  eye  is  screwed  round,  and  as  he  lies  at  the 
bottom  he  can  look  upwards  with  both  eyes  and  save 
the  under  one  from  getting  scratched  by  the  sand,  as 
it  must  have  done  if  it  had  remained  below. 

Nor  is  this  all,  for  while  his  under  side,  shaded 
from  the  sunlight,  remains  white  and  colourless,  his 
upper  side  gradually  becomes  coloured  like  the  sand  in 
which  he  lies,  and  he  is  safely  hidden  from  attack  as 
he  flaps  along,  feeding  on  worms  and  other  animals. 
And  now  when  he  swims  he  no  longer  uses  his  arm  and 
leg  fins,  which  are  quite  small  and  insignificant,  but 
bends  his  whole  body,  using  the  back  and  belly  fins  to 
help  him.  What  we  then  call  the  top  of  the  sole  is 
really  his  side,  where  you  may  see  the  dark  line  of 
scales  running  along  the  middle,  and  one  arm-fin  lying 
close  to  his  head.  Yet  he  can  swim  strongly  and  to 
far  distances,  for  in  the  winter  the  soles,  too,  migrate 


THE  SEA-HORSES. 


Fig.  13- 


into  the  open  sea,  where  they  may  be  found  in  the 
deep  water  of  the  Silver  Pit,  between  the  Dogger  Bank 
and  the  Well  Bank. 

And  now,  before  we  leave  the  shore,  we  must 
glance  at  a  curious  weakly  little  fellow  clinging  by 
his  curly  tail  to  the  seaweed,  whom  you  will  certainly 
not  take  for  a  fish,  even  if  you  can  find  him  out,  so 
entangled  is  he  generally  in  weeds  of  the  same  colour 
as  himself.  Yet  the  Sea-horse  *  is  a  true  fish,  covered 
not  with  scales  but 
with  plates,  with 
which  he  makes  a 
clicking  noise  by 
scraping  them  to- 
gether. What  look 
like  large  ears  are 
really  his  arm-fins, 
while  at  the  end  of 
his  long  snout  is  a 
mouth  shaped  like 
an  ordinary  fish's 
mouth,  but  toothless, 
and  he  breathes  with 
fish's  gills  arranged 
in  round  tufts  in- 
stead of  folds.  What 
the  use  of  his 
strange  shape  is  to 
him  we  cannot  tell, 
but  at  any  rate 
his  fleshless  bony  body  must  protect  him  from 
other  fish,  while  his  power  of  clinging  causes  him 

*   Hippocampus. 


Hippocampus,  a  fish  commonly  called 
the  Sea-Horse. 


64  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

to  be  often  carried  by  floating  weed  even  into  the 
open  ocean,  and  make  up  for  his  feeble  powers.  In 
one  thing  he  surpasses  most  other  fishes,  for  he  is 
a  most  careful  father,  carrying  the  mother's  eggs  in  a 
little  pouch  under  his  body  till  the  young  ones  escape. 
There  is  one  form  of  these  sea-horses  in  tropical  seas 
which  has  long  red  fringes  floating  from  its  body,  so 
that  it  cannot  be  distinguished  from  the  seaweed  in 
which  it  hides. 

So  we  see  that  the  deep  sea,  the  open  sea,  and 
the  shore,  are  rilled  so  full  of  different  forms  that 
there  are  enough  not  only  to  make  use  of  every 
part,  but  also  to  provide  food  for  each  other,  and 
we  also  see  that  by  far  the  larger  number  even  of 
widely-spread  fish  come  near  to  the  shore  to  leave 
their  spawn,  while  the  young  ones  often  make  their 
way  into  the  bra,ckish  water  at  the  mouths  of  rivers, 
and  spend  their  youth  in  the  shelter  of  the  still  fresh 
water. 

Now  it  is  very  natural  that  many  such  fish 
should  learn  to  remain  in  this  quiet  refuge,  and  in 
time  to  live  there  altogether.  And  because  fish- 
life  in  the  rivers  is  comparatively  uneventful  and 
little  varied,  we  find  much  fewer  peculiarities  in  river- 
fish.  Many  of  them  are  very  near  relations  of  sea 
forms.  There  is  the  salmon,  a  true  sea-fish,  which 
wanders  up  the  river  to  spawn  in  the  pebbly  shallows  ; 
and  there  are  the  trout,  his  near  relations,  which  have 
learned  to  live  entirely  in  the  rivers.  There  are  the 
sea-perches,  large  strong  fish,  and  the  smaller  river 
perch,  which  have  made  their  homes  very  successfully 
in  the  rivers,  for  their  spines  are  so  sharp  that  even 
the  greedy  pike  hesitates  to  swallow  them.  There  are 


Fig.  14.     STICKLEBACKS  AND  THEIR  NEST.      Gasterosteus  aculeatus.) 
To  face  p.  6j. 


STICKLEBACKS.  65 

the  sea-sticklebacks,  and  the  little  river-stickleback.* 
This  last  is  a  very  clever  little  fish,  which  hollows 
out  the  foundation  of  his  nest  very  carefully  in  the 
bed  of  the  river,  and  then  builds  it  up  for  several 
inches  with  blades  of  grass  and  weeds  (Fig.  14), 
gumming  them  together  with  the  slime  of  his  body. 
Then,  when  all  is  ready,  he  swims  about  to  drive  and 
coax  the  mother  to  the  nest,  sending  her  in  to  lay 
her  eggs,  and  then  driving  her  right  through  and  out 
at  the  other  side,  so  that  a  stream  of  water  flows  con- 
stantly over  the  eggs  till  they  are  hatched.  Nay,  his 
care  does  not  end  here,  for  when  the  young  fish  come 
out  of  the  egg  with  a  bag  of  yelk  hanging  under  the 
body,  as  all  young  fish  have  at  first,  and  so  cannot 
swim  easily  and  escape  their  enemies,  the  courageous 
little  father  will  defend  them  and  fight  fiercely  with 
any  fish  which  thinks  to  make  a  meal  upon  them,  not 
leaving  them  till  all  the  yelk  is  absorbed,  and  they 
are  able  to  swim  and  feed  themselves. 

Besides  these  active  river-fish  there  are  the 
little  stupid  Miller's  Thumbs,  f  hiding  under  the 
stones  to  feed  on  tiny  animals  ;  they  are  feeble 
relations  of  the  gurnards  which  we  saw  walking  on 
the  bottom  of  the  sea.  Then  there  are  the  purely 
freshwater  fish,  the  Pike  and  the  large  Carp  family, 
with  its  many  branches,  the  Roach,  and  Dace,  and 
Gudgeon,  and  Minnow ;  and  the  enormous  family 
of  Cat-fish  and  Sheat-fish, \  of  which  we  have  none 
in  England,  but  plenty  in  America  and  other  parts  of 
the  world,  a  family  in  which  the  fathers  sometimes 
carry  the  eggs  in  their  mouths  till  hatched.  And  last 
but  not  least  among  the  freshwater  forms  is  that  irre- 

*  Gasterosteus.  f  Cottus.  £  Siluridse. 


66  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

pressible  family  of  the  Eels  which  we  saw  wander- 
ing in  the  deep  sea,  and  which  are  also  to  be  found 
near  the  shores  all  over  the  world.  These  fish  will 
even  travel  through  pipes  and  into  cisterns  ;  and  will 
climb  up  trees  so  as  to  drop  into  neighbouring 
streams  and  continue  their  wanderings  ;  they  sleep 
in  the  mud  in  winter  ;  and  even  after  being  frozen 
come  to  life  again  ;  and  in  the  spring  they  go  to  the 
sea  to  spawn,  giving  rise  to  those  shoals  of  young 
ones  from  three  to  five  inches  long  which  come  in 
incredible  numbers  up  the  rivers  in  summer,  making 
the  eel-fairs,*— 

"  The  silver  eel,  in  shining  volumes  rolled," 

so  much  spoken  of  in  old  books,  when  the  eels  will 
often  climb  high  banks,  nay,  even  pass  over  miles 
of  dry  land,  closing  down  their  narrow  gill-open- 
ings, and  so  shutting  in  water  to  serve  them  as  they 

go- 
All    these,   and    many   other  freshwater   families, 

show  us  how  the  fish  have  wandered  into  every  pos- 
sible nook  of  the  waters,  so  that  even  in  those  inland 
salt  lakes  of  North  America  and  Asia  into  which  no 
rivers  flow  fish-life  is  abundant ;  and  we  can  only 
suppose  that  the.  eggs  must  have  been  carried  by 
water-birds  in  their  flight,  or  by  gusts  of  wind, 
or  have  arrived  there  in  ages  long  ago,  before 
these  lakes  were  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  watery 
world. 

Yet  some  few  fish  besides  the  eels  have  been 
known  to  travel  over  land  to  find  watery  "  pastures 
new  ;"  the  Climbing  Perch  t,  of  India  and  the  Doras 

*  More  properly  eel-fares  (fare,  Saxon,  to  travel ;  ex. ,  -way-faring 
man).  t  Anabas. 


RISE  AND  SPREAD  OF  FISH-LIFE.  67 

of  Tropical  America  will  both  travel  many  miles  when 
their  own  ponds  are  dried,  the  perch  breathing  by 
the  help  of  a  special  apparatus,  and  the  doras  pro- 
bably shutting  water  into  its  gills ;  for  necessity,  even 
in  fishes,  proves  the  "  mother  of  invention,"  and  in 
special  works  on  fish  you  will  find  accounts  of  num- 
berless strange  devices  and  adaptations  by  which 
they  manage  to  survive  in  the  struggle  for  life. 

And  now,  collecting  together  all  we  have  learned, 
let  us  in  conclusion  form  a  rough  picture  of  the 
history  of  the  fish-world.  All  over  our  globe,  from 
pole  to  pole,  and  from  the  Indian  Ocean  round  to 
the  east,  back  to  the  Indian  Ocean  again,  is  one  vast 
world  of  waters,  with  inlets  and  land-locked  seas 
bordering  its  margins,  and  rivers  pouring  into  its 
depths.  In  the  past  ages  of  the  world  these  rivers 
and  coasts  and  inlets  have  varied  innumerable  times, 
but  the  great  ocean -mother  has  always  been  there 
to  bear  the  increasingly -varied  forms  in  her  bosom, 
and  to  enable  them  to  wander  where  best  they  could 
preserve  life. 

And  so  from  their  beginning,  when  they  were 
probably  as  feeble  as  the  lancelet,  these  earliest  and 
simplest  backboned  animals  with  their  two  pair  of 
limbs  as  yet  very  variable  both  in  their  position  and 
shape,  have  been  spreading  far  and  wide  over  the 
watery  three-quarters  of  the  globe.  We  have  seen 
how  the  enamel-scaled  fish  had  their  time  of  glory,  but 
were  not  able  to  hold  their  ground,  because  they  were 
not  agile  and  fish-like  enough  to  escape  their  foes  ; 
and  how  the  sharks  by  their  strength  and  boldness 
remain  monarchs  of  the  sea  to  the  present  day. 
Then  we  have  seen  that  in  old  chalk  seas  the  new 


68  THE,  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

and  active  race  of  bony  fish  appear  in  force  ;  some 
like  the  herring  and  the  carp,  with  air-bladders, 
which  had  openings  like  the  enamel-scaled  fish,  and 
these  can  dart  from  heights  to  depths  ;  while  others 
had  closed  air-bladders,  and  these  remain  with  most 
ease  at  one  level,  and  can  sometimes,  if  necessary,  use 
the  gas  in  their  bladder  for  breathing,  if  they  are 
oppressed  with  muddy  water  ;  and  lastly,  some,  such 
as  the  dorado,  have  lost  their  air-bladder  altogether, 
and  gain  in  freedom  of  action  what  they  lose  in 
lightness  and  buoyancy.  And  during  the  ages  that 
have  passed  since  this  bony  race  began,  different 
branches  each  in  their  own  way  have  thrown  out 
curious  weapons  and  developed  strange  organs  to 
help  them  in  the  battle  of  life,  so  that  now  we  have 
deep-sea  fish  carrying  their  own  light ;  fish  with  dis- 
tensible stomachs  swallowing  prey  larger  than  them- 
selves ;  fish  with  large  air-bladders  and  long  arm- 
fins  springing  out  of  their  own  element  and  floating 
in  air  ;  angling-fish,  walking-fish,  clinging-fish,  and 
hiding-fish  ;  and  even  those  whose  shape  is  distorted, 
like  the  sole,  to  enable  them  to  hide  and  hunt  in 
safety ;  while,  when  the  sea  is  full,  we  find  new  varieties 
pressing  their  way  into  every  river  and  tiny  stream, 
and  even  overland  into  enclosed  waters.  Nay !  when 
we  descend  into  the  recesses  of  the  earth  and  visit 
the  underground  pools  of  the  dark  caverns  of  Ken- 
tucky, there  we  come  upon  fish  which  have  found  a 
refuge  in  eternal  darkness,  and  have  lost  not  only 
the  power  of  sight  but  actually  the  eyes  themselves. 
And  here  we  must  leave  them  to  go  to  higher 
vertebrate  animals.  Although  but  little  is  known 
of  fish-life,  a  very  small  part  even  of  that  little 


AFFECTION  IN  FISHES.  69 

has  been  given  here,  and  yet  we  take  leave  of 
it  with  the  feeling  that  its  changes  and  chances 
are  greater  than  we  can  ever  thoroughly  learn. 
How  much  pleasure  these  creatures  have  in  their 
water -wo  rid  it  would  be  difficult  for  us  to  say ; 
but  since  we  find  them  playing  together,  hunting 
together,  sporting  in  the  warm  sunshine,  and  div- 
ing and  gambolling  in  the  open  sea,  and  sometimes 
even  calling  to  one  another,  we  cannot  but  think 
that  life  has  great  charms  for  them  in  spite  of  the 
many  dangers  surrounding  them.  And  when,  low 
though  they  are  in  the  scale  of  life,  we  find  them 
(though  curiously  enough  always  the  fathers)  carrying 
the  eggs,  building  nests  for  them,  and  defending  the 
young,  we  see  that  even  here,  in  the  very  beginning 
of  backboned  life,  we  touch  the  root  of  true  sympathy, 
the  love  of  parent  for  child. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

HOW  THE  BACKBONED  ANIMALS  PASS  FROM  WATER- 
BREATHING  TO  AIR-BREATHING,  AND  FIND 
THEIR  WAY  OUT  UPON  THE  LAND. 

So  the  backboned  animals,  as  fish,  have  peopled  the 
seas  and  rivers,  and,  as  the  ages  have  past  on,  have 
become  more  and  more  fitted  to  their  watery  life, 
little  dreaming  of  another  and  different  life  in  the 


LA  YING  OF  FROGS'  EGGS.  71 

world  of  air  above  them.  And  yet  in  the  same 
pond  with  the  little  stickleback,  so  busy  building 
his  nest,  there  is  a  creature  which  could  tell  him 
that  it  is  possible  to  live  in  both  worlds,  if  only  you 
have  the  proper  machinery  to  do  it  with. 

It  is  clear  that  if  the  backboned  animals  were 
ever  to  live  upon  land,  after  they  had  begun  their 
career  in  the  water,  there  must  have  been  some 
among  them  which  learned  gradually  to  give  up 
water-breathing,  and  to  make  use  of  free  air  ;  and 
we  shall  not  have  far  to  seek  for  creatures  which 
will  help  us  to  guess  how  they  managed  it. 

From  almost  every  country  pond,  or  ditch,  or 
swamp,  a  chorus  of  voices  rises  up  in  the  springtime 
of  the  year,  calling  to  us  to  come  and  learn  how  Life 
has  taught  her  children  to  pass  from  the  water  to  the 
air ;  for  it  is  then  that  the  frogs  lay  their  eggs,  and 
every  tadpole  which  grows  up  into  a  frog  carries  us 
through  the  wonderful  history  of  an  animal  beginning 
life  as  a  fish  with  water-breathing  gills,  and  ending 
it  as  a  four-legged  animal  with  air-breathing  lungs. 

Come  with  me,  then,  to  some  stagnant  pool  in  a 
country  lane,  towards  the  end  of  March,  and  there 
we  shall  no  doubt  find  a  whole  company  of  frogs, 
croaking  to  their  hearts'  content  after  their  long 
winter  sleep  in  the  mud  at  the  bottom  of  the  pond. 
They  are  wide  awake  now,  and  are  actively  em- 
ployed laying  their  eggs.  Look  carefully  around 
the  edges  of  the  pond,  especially  in  that  part  where 
the  wind  has  driven  the  scum  to  the  side,  and  you 
will  doubtless  find  in  some  still  corner  a  gluey  mass 
(e,  Fig.  15),  which  looks  like  a  lump  of  jelly  with 
dark  specks  in  it.  Take  this  up  carefully,  for  it  is 


72  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

frog  spawn  ;  carry  it  home  together  with  some  weeds 
from   the  pond;  put  it  in  a  glass  bowl  with  water; 

Fig.  15- 


Metamorphosis  of  the  Frog. 

e.  Eggs.  i.  Tadpoles  just  out  of  the  egg.  2.  With  outside  gills. 
3.  With  gills  hidden,  and  beak-like  mouth.  4.  Hind  legs  appearing. 
5.  All  legs  grown,  but  fish-tail  remaining.  6.  Putting  on  Frog  appear- 
ance ;  tail  being  absorbed.  7.  Young  perfect  Frog. 

and    then   from    day   to    day   you    may   study   the 
history  of  a  frog's  life. 


EARLY  TADPOLE  LIFE.  73 

That  jelly-like  mass  is  a  collection  of  frog's  eggs. 
When  they  were  laid,  each  egg  was  a  small  round 
dark  body  in  a  gluey  covering,  and  they  all  fell  to 
the  bottom  of  the  pond,  where,  by  degrees,  the 
water  oozing  through  the  envelope  swelled  each  egg, 
till  they  clung  altogether  in  a  mass,  and,  rising, 
floated  at  the  top.  Then  very  soon  each  round  dot 
lengthened  out  into  a  long  streak,  and  in  a  few  days 
an  eyeless  head  appeared  at  one  end  with  a  soft 
closed  mouth  under  it,  and  at  the  other  a  tail,  with 
a  soft  fin  round  it  like  the  tail  of  the  lancelet ;  so 
that  by  the  time  you  find  the  spawn,  you  may,  most 
likely,  be  able  to  see  the  tiny  creature  wriggling 
every  now  and  then  in  its  watery  bed.  This  will 
go  on  for  some  time,  and  a  week  or  two  may  pass 
before  the  moving  tadpole  breaks  through  its  egg 
skin,  and  coming  out  into  the  world,  fastens  on  to  a 
piece  of  weed  (i,  Fig.  15)  by  two  little  suckers 
behind  its  mouth.  And  now  that  it  is  out  of  the 
egg  the  interest  begins.  Look  carefully  day  after 
day  and  you  will  see  some  branching  tufts  (2,  Fig.  15) 
growing  larger  and  larger  on  each  side  of  its  head. 
What  are  these  ?  We  have  not  seen  them  in  any 
fish.  No !  but  if  you  take  a  young  hound-shark 
out  of  his  leathery  egg  before  his  time,  you  will  find 
that  he  has  outside  gills  much  like  these,  only  he  loses 
them  before  he  comes  out  into  the  world,  whereas 
the  tadpole  keeps  them  to  breathe  with  a  little 
longer.  If  you  put  the  tadpole,  at  this  stage,  under 
the  microscope,  you  can  see  the  red  blood  flowing 
through  these  gills  to  take  up  air  out  of  the  water. 

Meanwhile  the  tadpole's  lips  are  gradually  form- 
ing into  a  round  mouth,  much  like  the  lamprey's, 


74  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

and  by-and-by  the  inner  part  of  this  mouth  is 
covered  with  two  little  horny  jaws,  forming  a  sharp 
beak  (3,  Fig.  I  5)  with  which  he  will  nip  off  pieces 
of  weed  for  food.  Meanwhile,  as  he  grows  larger 
and  larger,  and  eyes,  nostrils,  and  flat  ears  form  in 
the  head,  a  covering  begins  to  grow  back  over  the 
sides  of  the  neck,  and  little  by  little  the  branching 
tufts  disappear  (3,  Fig.  15).  How,  then,  can  he 
breathe  now  ?  Watch  carefully  and  you  will  see 
that  he  gulps  every  moment  as  we  saw  the  minnow 
doing  (p.  23).  The  fact  is  that  the  outside  tufts 
have  faded  away,  and  under  the  cover  the  tadpole 
has  six  slits  in  his  throat,  like  the  slits  of  the  lam- 
prey, which  are  covered  in  somewhat  similar  fashion 
to  those  of  the  amphioxus  (see  p.  1 1),  and  he 
breathes  through  them. 

Here  is  our  tadpole,  then,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses a  fish.  He  swims  with  a  fish's  tail  ;  he  gulps 
in  water  at  his  mouth,  passing  it  out  at  the  slits  in 
his  throat  after  it  has  poured  over  his  fish's  gills. 
Moreover,  he  has  a  fish's  heart,  of  two  chambers  only, 
like  the  minnow's  (p.  23),  which  pumps  the  blood  into 
these  gills  to  be  freshened,  while,  like  the  lamprey, 
he  has  a  gristly  cord,  enlarged  at  the  end  to  form  a 
gristly  skull,  a  round  sucking  mouth,  and  no  limbs. 
All  this  time,  however,  though  he  has  a  fish's  fin 
round  his  tail,  he  has  no  arm  or  leg  fins.  Wait 
a  while  and  you  will  see  that  under  his  tender  skin 
far  more  useful  limbs  are  being  prepared.  As  he 
grows  bigger  and  more  active  week  by  week,  wrigg- 
ling among  the  weeds  and  feeding  greedily,  two  little 
bumps  appear  one  on  each  side  of  his  now  bulky 
body,  just  where  it  joins  the  tail.  These  bumps  grow 


FROM  TADPOLE  TO  FROG.  75 

larger  every  day,  until,  lo  !  some  morning  they  have 
pierced  through  the  skin,  and  two  tiny  hind  legs 
(4,  Fig.  15)  are  working  between  the  body  and  the 
tail.  The  two  front  legs  are  longer  in  coming,  for 
they  are  hidden  under  the  cover  which  grew  over  the 
gills,  but  in  about  another  week  they  too  appear,  and 
we  have  a  small  four-legged  animal  with  a  lamprey's 
tail  (5,  Fig.  15).  These  legs  are  something  far  in  ad- 
vance of  fish  fins,  for  they  have  shoulders  and  thighs, 
arm  and  leg  bones,  wrist  and  ankle  bones,  hand  and 
foot  bones  ;  and  instead  of  the  large  number  of  rays 
in  a  fish's  fin  they  have  four  fingers  on  their  short 
front  legs,  and  five  toes  at  the  end  of  long  hind  ones  ; 
the  toes  being  joined  together  by  a  web,  which  helps 
him  wonderfully  in  striking  the  water  as  he  swims. 

The  tadpole  has  now  become  fitted  to  jump  and 
leap  on  the  land  or  swim  by  his  legs  in  the  water  ; 
and,  moreover,  while  these  legs  have  been  growing, 
another  change  has  been  taking  place.  You  will 
notice  by  careful  watching  that  at  first  he  still  gulps 
in  water  as  he  used  to  do,  but  he  comes  more  often 
to  the  top,  and,  poising  himself  so  that  his  mouth  is 
out  of  the  water,  gives  out  a  bubble  of  bad  air,  draws 
in  some  fresh,  and  goes  down  again.  Why  does  he 
do  this  ?  Have  you  any  recollection  of  another  fish- 
like  animal  which  comes  up  to  take  in  air?  Look 
back  at  our  friends  the  mud-fishes  (p.  34),  and  read 
how  the  Ceratodus  fills  his  air-bladder  when  he  is 
short  of  good  air  in  the  water.  When  you  have 
re-read  this,  you  will  suspect  that  the  tadpole,  too, 
has  something  like  an  air-bladder,  which  he  fills  from 
time  to  time.  And  so  he  has.  While  his  legs  are 
growing  a  bag  has  been  forming  inside  at  the  back 


76  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

of  his  throat,  which  afterwards  divides  into  two,  and 
he  fills  these  by  shutting  his  mouth,  drawing  air  in 
at  his  nostrils,  putting  up  the  back  of  his  tongue  to 
shut  it  in,  and  then  swallowing  it  down  into  the 
lungs  ;  so  that  he  is  now  a  truly  double-breathing 
animal,  using  his  gills  when  below  water  and  his 
lungs  when  above.  Moreover,  if  you  could  watch 
inside  his  body,  you  would  now  see  that  little  by 
little  the  blood-vessels  going  to  the  gills  grow  smaller 
and  smaller,  and  those  going  to  the  lungs  grow  larger 
and  larger ;  while  the  fish's  two -chambered  heart 
divides  into  three  chambers,  one  to  receive  the  blood 
from  the  body,  another  to  receive  it  from  the  lungs, 
and  one  to  drive  this  blood  back  again  through  the 
whole  animal.  And  when  at  last  this  change  is  so 
complete  that  all  the  blood  goes  to  the  lungs  to  be 
freshened,  the  gills  shrivel  up  and  disappear,  and 
our  tadpole  is  a  true  air-breathing  animal. 

Notice,  though,  that  he  is  still  cold  and  clammy, 
not  warm  like  a  mouse  or  a  bird.  For  his  blood  still 
moves  slowly,  and  as  he  has  only  three  chambers  to 
his  heart  instead  of  four,  as  warm-blooded  animals 
have,  the  good  blood  from  the  lungs  and  the  worn-out 
blood  from  his  body  become  mixed  each  time  they 
come  round,  so  that  his  breathing  work  is  still  of  a  low 
kind  all  his  life.  And  now  that  he  can  leap  and  swim 
with  his  legs,  his  tail  is  no  longer  of  use  to  him,  and 
it  is  gradually  sucked  in,  growing  shorter  and  shorter 
till  it  disappears,  and  the  young  frog  is  complete. 

Thus  our  backboned  animal  has  succeeded  in 
getting  out  of  the  water  on  to  the  land,  and  in  doing 
so  he  has  quite  changed  his  habits.  A  peaceful 
vegetarian  before,  he  is  now  a  greedy  eater  of 


THE  FULL-GROWN  FROG.  77 

insects,  slugs,  and  other  animals.  His  horny  beak 
has  been  pushed  off ;  his  lips  have  stretched  back 
farther  and  farther,  till  they  now  open  right  back  as 
far  as  his  flat  little  ear  ;  and  he  is  a  gaping,  wide- 
mouthed,  leaping  frog* — 

.   .   .  .    "  Hoarse  minstrel  of  a  strain 
Aquatic,  leaping  lover  of  the  rain  ; " 

(7,  Fig.  I  5),  with  teeth  in  the  roof  of  his  mouth.  But 
perhaps  his  tongue  is  the  most  curious  of  all,  for  in- 
stead of  being  fixed  at  the  back,  and  free  in  the  front, 
as  in  most  other  animals,  the  root  of  it  is  fastened  to  the 
front  of  his  lower  jaw,  and  the  tip  lies  back  in  his  mouth, 
so  that  when  he  wishes  to  catch  an  insect  he  throws 
his  tongue  quickly  forward,  captures  his  prey  on  the 
sticky  point,  and  flings  it  back  down  his  throat. 

So  he  hops  about  the  summer  long,  if  he  can  only 
escape  from  ducks  and  rats  and  other  frog -eating 
animals.  He  often  takes  to  the  water,  for  he  can  fill 
his  lungs  with  air  and  use  it  very  slowly,  and,  moreover, 
his  soft  skin  is  of  great  use  to  him  in  still  breathing  in 
the  water  or  in  the  moist  air  ;  and  when  winter  comes 
he  takes  refuge  with  many  others  at  the  bottom  of  the 
pond,  and  sinks  into  a  state  of  torpor,  till  the  spring 
brings  croaking  and  egg-laying  time  round  again. 

Our  little  frog,  then,  is  truly  an  animal  with  a 
double  life,  a  genuine  amphibian,!  meaning  by  this, 
not  merely  an  animal  that  can  swim  in  the  water  and 
move  on  land,  for  seals  and  water-rats,  white  bears  and 
hippopotamuses,  can  do  this,  but  one  that  in  the  early 
part  of  its  life  would  die  if  taken  out  of  the  water, 
while  afterwards  it  lives  and  breathes  in  the  air. 

*  Not  "  v\ addling  ;"  it  is  the  toad,  not  the  frdg,  that  waddles, 
t  Amphi,  all  around  ;  bios,  life. 


78  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

Have  these  double-lived  creatures,  then,  such  a 
great  advantage  over  real  water  animals,  or  how 
can  we  account  for  their  having  adopted  this  strange 
life  ?  If  we  only  look  upon  them  as  they  are  now, 
we  can  scarcely  call  them  particularly  successful, 
compared  to  other  animals.  For  though  there  are 
plenty  of  them,  yet  they  are  comparatively  small 
and  insignificant ;  and  when  we  find  large  ones 

Fig.  1 6. 


The  Common  Smooth  Newt  * — male  and  young  in  the  water  ; 
female  on  the  bank. 

like  the  gigantic  salamander  of  Japan,  they  are 
sluggish  and  feeble.  Look  at  the  common  newts, 
or  water-salamanders  of  our  ponds,  with  their  weak 
crawling  limbs,  as  they  wander  round  the  edges  of 
a  pond,  feeding  on  water-insects  and  tadpoles,  the 

*  Lissotriton  punctatus. 


THE  PROTEUS.  79 

male  with  his  crested  back,  the  smooth  mother, 
and  the  young  eft -tadpole  with  its  branching 
tufted  gills  (Fig.  1 6).  They  are  much  less  active 
than  the  frog,  for  they  never  lose  their  tails,  and 
they  come  less  often  out  of  the  water,  although  they 
are  true  air-breathing  animals.  Then,  when  we  go 
to  other  countries,  there  is  the  Proteus  (Fig.  1 7),  that 
curious  half-transparent  newt,  with  a  round  body  and 
tiny  helpless  legs,  which  lives  in  eternal  darkness  in 

Fig.  17. 


Proteus  of  the  Carniola  caverns,*  with  its  external  breathing  gills. — 
(Adapted from  Brehm. ) 

the  still  underground  pools  of  the  Carniola  caverns 
near  Adelsberg.  He  has  become  well  fitted  for  his 
dismal  life,  for  his  tiny  eyes  are  grown  over  with 
skin,  and  he  never  loses  the  feathery  gills  on  each 
side  of  his  neck,  but  lives  like  a  tadpole  all  his  life, 
although  he  has  true  lungs.  Again,  in  America  we 

*  Proteus  ansntineus. 


So  THE  WINNERS  IN. LIFE'S  RACE. 

have  the  Siren,  with  its  long  snake-like  body,  and 
only  front  legs,  with  which  it  cannot  walk.  It,  too, 
keeps  its  gills  as  it  wanders  about  the  stagnant 
waters  of  South  Carolina,  feeding  on  worms  and 
insects.  Then  in  the  Mexican  lakes  there  are  the 
curious  Axolotls,  which  also  wear  outside  gills,  as  a 

Fig.  1 8. 


Axolotl,  a  creature  living  and  breeding  for  generations  in  the  water. 
Amblystoma  coming  out  of  the  water. — an  axolotl  which  has  lost  the 
gills  and  acquired  lungs. 

rule,  all  their  lives,  and  fathers,  mothers,  and  children 
remain  breathing  in  the  water  together,  although 
they  have  real  lungs.  But  about  twenty  years  ago, 
some  of  those  axolotls,  which  were  kept  in  the  Jardin 


TRANSFORMING   AXOLOTLS.  81 

des  Plantes  in  Paris  lost  their  gills,  came  out  upon 
the  land,  and  astonished  people  by  becoming  true 
land  salamanders,  like  some  already  well  known  and 
called  Amblystomes,  breathing  only  with  their  lungs. 
It  was  difficult  for  some  time  to  make  the  world  be- 
lieve that  grown-up  water-breathing  creatures  which 
could  lay  eggs  were  able  to  turn  into  other  creatures 
without  gills.  But  at  last  a  lady,  Fraulein  Marie 
von  Chauvin,  took  some  axolotls  when  they  were  full- 
grown,  and  kept  them  on  land  in  wet  moss,  washing 
and  feeding  them  every  day,  and  thus  succeeded  in 
teaching  them  to  breathe  air,  so  that  their  gills 
shrivelled  up  and  disappeared.  Then  there  could 
no  longer  be  any  doubt  that  the  axolotl  is  only  the 
lower  water-form  of  the  amblystoma,  which  in  the 
Mexican  lakes,  owing  to  the  increased  dryness  of 
the  surrounding  country,  has  lost  the  habit  of  coming 
out  on  to  the  land,  and  remains  in  the  water  with  its 
little  ones  all  its  life  ;  but  which,  when  brought  to  a 
moist  climate  where  it  can  breathe  comfortably  on 
land,  sometimes  returns  to  its  old  double  life. 

We  have,  in  fact,  in  Europe  real  land  salaman- 
ders, which  live  in  cool  damp  places,  looking  like 
lumpy  so  ft -skinned  lizards,  but  going  down  to  the 
water  to  lay  their  eggs,  that  their  littje  ones  may 
go  through  their  tadpole  life — and  one  of  these,  the 
black  salamander,*  which  lives  high  up  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Germany,  France,  and  Switzerland,  does  not 
even  go  to  the  water,  but  carries  the  young  tadpoles 
in  her  body  till  they  can  breathe  air  and  run  alone  ; 
and  yet  they  are  still  true  amphibia,  for  if  they 
are  taken  out  of  their  mother  and  put  in  water,  they 

*  Salamandra  atra. 


82  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

go  through  all  their  changes  like  common   efts  and 
newts. 

Lastly,  there  is  a  strange  group  of  legless  crea- 
tures called  Caecilians,  which  have  taken  refuge 
underground,  burrowing  like  worms,  though  they  are 
true  amphibians  and  their  young  have  gills  in  their 
babyhood  hidden  under  a  slit  in  the  neck.  These 
caecilians  are  the  only  amphibians  which  have  scales 
something  like  fishes,  yet  they  never  live  in  the 
water,  but  in  the  marshy  ground  of  tropical  countries, 
feeding  on  worms  and  insects. 

Now  when  we  think  that  these  sluggish  newts, 
and  salamanders,  and  caecilians,  with  their  more 
nimble  but  comparatively  unprotected  relations,  the 
frogs,  are  all  the  amphibians  now  living,  we  cannot 
but  wonder  how  Life  came  to  produce  such  a  feeble 
set  of  creatures  to  fight  the  battle  of  existence. 

But  if  we  glance  back  to  that  far-off  time  when 
the  ancient  fishes  were  wandering  round  the  shores 
and  in  the  streams  of  the  coal  -  forests,  we  shall  be 
better  able  to  read  the  riddle.  For  in  those  days 
it  was  a  great  step  for  an  animal  to  get  out  of  the 
water  at  all,  and  those  that  did  so  had  a  much  better 
time  of  it  than  our  frogs  and  newts  have  now,  when 
the  country  is  full  of  land  enemies. 

And  so  we  find  that  the  amphibia  were  not  then 
the  small  scattered  groups  they  are  now,  but  strong 
lusty  animals,  with  formidable  weapons.  In  the 
hardened  mud,  which  in  those  days  formed  the  soft 
swampy  ground  of  the  coal-forests,  but  is  now 
stiffened  into  the  roofs  and  floors  of  our  coal-mines, 
footprints  have  been  left  which  tell  us  of  large  and 


LARGE  ANCIENT  AMPHIBIANS.  83 

formidable  creeping  animals,  with  toed  feet  and  long 
flat  tails,  dragging  themselves  over  the  marshes  of 
the  coal-forests,  and  rinding  their  way  to  many 
places  which  even  the  mud-fish  with  their  paddles 
could  not  reach  ;  and  from  time  to  time,  in  these 
same  roofs  and  floors  of  our  mines,  both  here  and  in 
America,  we  find  the  bones  and  coverings  of  these 
amphibia,  buried  in  Nature's  catacombs  for  ages,  and 
only  brought  to  light  by  the  rude  hand  of  man. 
These  remains  remind  us  that 

"A  monstrous  eft  was  of  old  the  lord  and  master  of  earth, 
For  him  did  the  high  sun  flame,  and  his  river  billowing  ran. 
And  he  felt  himself  in  his  force  to  be  Nature's  crowning  race ; " 

for  they  show  us  huge  and  powerful  creatures  *  which 
sported  in  the  water  or  wandered  over  the  land  with 
sprawling  limbs,  long  tails,  and  bones  on  which  gills 
grew,  while  their  heads  were  covered  with  hard  bony 
plates,  and  their  teeth  were  large,  with  folds  of  hard 
enamel  on  the  surface.  Some  of  these  were  fish- 
like,  with  short  necks  and  broad  flat  tails,  but  they 
had  true  legs  and  toes  ;  others,  more  like  crocodiles, 
and  sometimes  ten  feet  long,  were  able  to  walk  firmly, 
but  still  dragging  their  bodies  and  long  tails  over 
the  swampy  ground  on  which  their  footprints  are 
still  found  ;  some  were  small  and  more  like  lizards, 
with  simple  teeth,  scaly  armour,  and  light  nimble 
bodies  ;  and  these,  probably,  ran  about  quickly  on 
the  land,  and  have  sometimes  left  their  skeletons  in 
the  hollow  trunks  of  the  old  coal-forest  trees. 

All  these  plated  and  formidable  creatures  were 
amphibia  or  double-lived  animals,  and  this  was  their 
Golden  Age,  as  they  preyed  upon  the  fishes  in  the 

*  See  Picture-heading,  p.  70. 


84  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

swamps  and  ponds,  probably  not  sparing  even  their 
nearest  connections,  the  mud -fishes,  who,  less  for- 
tunate than  themselves,  had  followed  the  road  of 
fish-life  instead  of  coming  out  upon  the  land.  They 
lived  so  long  ago  that  we  can  tell  but  little  of 
their  daily  lives,  but  it  is  clear  that  they  played  a 
very  different  part  from  our  small  frogs  and  newts 
of  to-day,  and  in  their  well-formed  limbs  were  worthy 
forerunners  of  land  and  air-breathing  animals. 

But  like  the  old  race  of  fishes  these  large  amphi- 
bians were  only  to  have  their  day,  for  as  other 
branches  of  the  family  tree  grew  up,  and  reptiles  grew 
strong  and  mighty,  and  other  true  land  animals  began 
to  flourish,  these  huge  plated  forms  dwindled  away, 
and  we  lose  sight  of  them  ;  and  when  we  find  any 
of  their  relations  again  it  is  only  as  our  present 
frogs  and  newts,  salamanders  and  csecilians,  which 
have  taken  up  their  refuge  in  lakes,  ponds,  ditches, 
underground  waters,  or  damp  mud.  And,  curiously 
enough,  those  forms  of  to-day  which  are  most  like 
the  huge  Labyrinthodonts*  as  they  are  called,  of  the 
old  coal -forests,  are  the  feeble  caecilians,  with  their 
horny  scales  and  their  numerous  ribs,  although  they 
have  now  fallen  the  lowest  of  all  amphibians,  and, 
with  their  sightless  eyes  and  ringed  and  legless  bodies, 
have  taken  to  burrowing  in  the  ground  like  worms. 

Not  so  the  frogs,  which,  like  the  bony  fishes, 
began  their  career  in  later  times,  and  have  known 
how  to  fit  themselves  into  many  nooks  and  corners 
in  life.  In  almost  all  countries  of  the  globe  they 
hop  merrily  about  the  ponds  and  ditches,  never 
wandering  far  from  the  water,  into  which  they 

*  Labyrinthodonts  (Laburinthos,  spiral  ;  odontas,  teeth). 


FROGS  AND  TOADS.  85 

jump  and  dive  whenever  danger  threatens.  It  is 
true  they  are  eaten  by  thousands,  both  as  tadpoles  and 
frogs,  by  birds,  snakes,  water-rats,  and  fish,  and  even 
by  each  other,  but  they  multiply  fast  enough  to  keep 
up  the  supply,  and  find  plenty  of  insects  both  in  and 
out  of  the  ponds.  Nor  have  they  kept  entirely  to  a 
watery  life,  for  their  near  relations,  the  toads,  which 
have  toothless  mouths  and  toes  less  webbed,  have 
ventured  much  farther  on  to  the  land,  protected 
partly,  no  doubt,  by  the  disagreeable  acrid  juice 
which  they  can  throw  out  from  a  gland  behind  the 
eye  whenever  they  are  attacked. 

It  is  curious  to  notice  the  quiet  leisurely  waddle 
of  the  sluggish  toad,  as  he  spreads  out  his  short  fat 
legs  and  puffs  out  his  warty  skin,  and  to  compare 
him  with  the  nervous,  anxious,  little  frog,  starting  at 
every  danger.  And  still  more  curious  is  it  to  see 
him  getting  out  of  his  skin,  as  he  does  several  times 
a  year.  For  his  skin  does  not  peel  off  in  pieces  as 
it  does  in  the  watery  frogs,  but  splits  along  his  back  ; 
then  he  wriggles  about  till  it  lies  in  folds  on  his  sides 
and  hips,  and,  putting  one  of  his  hind  feet  between 
the  front  ones,  draws  the  skin  off  the  leg  like  a 
stocking  off  a  foot.  With  the  other  leg  he  does  the 
same,  and  then,  drawing  out  his  front  legs,  pulls  the 
whole  skin  forward,  and  stripping  it  over  his  head, 
swallows  it ;  thus  deliberately  putting  his  old  coat 
inside  him,  and  appearing  in  one  that  is  glossy,  fresh, 
and  new.  The  toad  has  many  enemies  in  spite  of 
his  acrid  taste,  and  he  shows  his  wisdom  by  hiding 
in  walls  and  under  stones  in  the  daytime,  and  coming 
out  in  the  dusk  of  evening  to  hunt  the  beetles  and 
grubs  so  often  out  of  reach  of  the  water-loving  frog. 


86 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


But  the  toad  is  not  the  only  land  relation  of 
the  frog ;  there  are  others  of  the  group  that  venture 
even  farther  from  water;  for  in  most  parts  of  the  world 
(though  not  in  England),  tree-frogs,  with  sucking  disks 

Fig.  19. 


The  Flying  Tree-Frog  of  New  Guinea  *  ( Wallace], 

at  the  ends  of  their  toes  and  fingers,  climb  the  trees 
and  hunt  for  insects  among  the  leaves  and  branches  ; 
while  in  Borneo  Mr.  Wallace  found  one  (Fig.  19)  with 

*  Rhacophorus  Rheinhardti. 


THE  FLYING  TREE-FROG.  87 

webbed  feet,  which  it  spread  out,  and  so  flew  down 
from  the  trees.  There  are  plenty  of  the  ordinary  tree- 
climbing  frogs  to  be  seen  in  the  south  of  France,  their 
small  green  bodies  peeping  out  from  under  the  dull 
gray  olive-leaves  ;  and  to  be  heard,  too,  in  an  end- 
less chorus  all  night  long  when  the  spring  arrives. 

But  how  can  these  tree-dwellers  bring  up  their  little 
ones  in  water  ?  Some  of  them  come  down  and  lay 
their  eggs  in  the  ponds,  and  even  sleep  down  in  the 
mud  in  winter.  Others  lay  their  eggs  in  little  puddles 
of  water  in  the  hollows  of  the  trees,  and  there  the 
young  ones  live  their  tadpole  life ;  while  in  one  curious 
tree-frog  of  Mexico,  called  the  Nototrema,  the  mother 
has  a  pouch  in  her  back,  and  the  father  places  the  eggs 
in  it  for  the  little  tadpoles  to  live  in  a  moist  home  till 
they  leap  out  as  perfect  frogs. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  case  in  which  fathers  and 
mothers  take  care  of  their  young.  In  one  species  of 
frogs  living  near  Paris,  the  father  *  winds  the  long 
string  of  gluey  eggs  round  his  thighs,  and  buries 
himself  in  the  ground  till  the  young  tadpoles  are 
ready  to  come  out,  and  then  he  leaps  into  the  water. 
And  in  one  of  the  tongueless  toads,  the  Surinam 
toad,f  the  mother's  soft  skin  swells  up,  forming 
ridges  and  hollows,  and  when  her  eggs  are  laid  the 
father  clasps  them  in  his  feet,  and,  leaping  on  her 
back,  puts  an  egg  into  each  hollow.  Then  the 
mother  goes  into  the  water,  and  remains  there  while 
each  tadpole  completes  its  changes  in  its  own  hole, 
jumping  out  at  last  a  finished  toad. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  curious  habits  such  as  these, 
the  frogs  and  their  companions  on  the  whole  lead 

*  Alytes  obstetricus.  t  Pipa  Americana. 


88  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

a  very  monotonous  life.  They  are,  it  is  true, 
more  intelligent  than  fish,  and  have  learned  to 
know  more  of  the  world,  but  in  the  long  ages 
that  have  passed  since  their  ancestors  roamed  in 
the  coal -forest  marshes,  other  and  higher  animals 
have  taken  possession  of  the  land,  and  left  room 
only  for  a  few  scattered  groups  of  amphibia.  Still, 
however,  they  remain  hovering  between  two  lives, 
and  filling  such  spots  as  neither  the  fishes  nor  the 
land  animals  can  occupy  ;  and  when  we  hear  them 
croaking  in  the  quiet  night,  or  see  them  leaping  on 
the  marshy  ground,  they  remind  us  that  we  have 
still  living  in  our  day,  a  link  between  the  fish  whose 
world  is  a  world  of  waters,  and  the  air-breathing 
animals  which  have  become  masters  of  the  land. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  COLD-BLOODED  AIR-BREATHERS  OF  THE  GLOBE 
IN  TIMES  BOTH  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

AND  now  the  transformation  is  complete,  for  when 
we  pass  on  to  the  next  division  of  backboned 
animals,  the  "  Reptiles,"  we  hear  nothing  more  of 
gills,  nor  air  taken  from  the  water,  nor  fins,  nor 
fishes'  tails.  From  this  time  onward  all  the  animals 


90  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

we  shall  study  live  with  their  heads  in  the  air,  even 
if  their  bodies  may  be  in  the  water;  they  swim  with 
their  legs  or,  as  in  the  case  of  the  snakes,  with  their 
wriggling  bodies,  and  they  lay  their  eggs  on  the 
land  where  their  young  begin  life  at  once  as  air- 
breathers. 

Yet  they  can  often  remain  for  a  long  time  both 
under  water  and  under  ground,  for  they  are  still 
cold-blooded  animals,  breathing  very  slowly,  and 
easily  falling  into  a  state  of  torpor  when  the  air 
around  them  is  cold  and  chill.  They  are  but  the 
first  step,  as  it  were,  to  active  land  -  animals  ;  yet 
they  have  played  a  great  part  in  the  world,  and 
when  we  know  their  history  we  shall  be  surprised 
to  find  how  much  Life  has  been  able  to  make  of 
her  cold-blooded  children. 

To  learn  how  this  has  been,  however,  we  must 
travel  away  from  home  and  our  own  surroundings. 
The  tiny  brown  lizard  which  runs  over  our  heaths, 
while  its  legless  relation,  the  slowworm,  burrows  in 
the  ground, — the  few  snakes  which  glide  through 
the  grass  of  our  meadows,  and  the  stray  turtles 
thrown  at  rare  intervals  on  our  shores, — tell  us  very 
little  about  true  reptile  life.  It  is  to  Africa,  India, 
South  America,  and  other  warm  countries,  that  we 
must  go  to  find  the  formidable  crocodiles,  huge 
tortoises,  large  monitor-lizards,  and  dangerous  boa- 
constrictors,  cobras,  and  rattle -snakes.  And  even 
then,  strong  and  powerful  as  some  of  these  creatures 
are,  they  do  not  tell  us  half  the  history  of  the  cold- 
blooded air-breathers.  For  the  day  of  reptile  great- 
ness, like  that  of  the  sharks  and  enamel-scaled  fish, 
was  long  long  ago. 


THE  REPTILES  OF  ANCIENT  TIMES.          91 

Now  that  we  know  how  frogs  pass  from  water- 
breathing  to  air-breathing,  and  how  axolotls,  accus- 
tomed to  live  all  their  life  in  the  water,  can  lose 
their  gills  and  become  land-animals,  we  can  form  an 
idea  how  in  those  ancient  days,  while  still  the  huge- 
plated  newts  were  wandering  in  the  marshes,  some 
creatures  which  had  lost  their  gills  would  take  to 
the  land,  and  their  young  ones  starting  at  once  as  air- 
breathers,  as  the  black  salamanders  do  now  (see  p. 
80),  would  in  time  lose  all  traces  of  the  double  or 
amphibian  life,  and  become  true  air-breathing  reptiles. 

At  any  rate,  there  we  find  them  appearing  soon 
after  the  coal-forest  period  passed  away,  at  first  few 
and  far  between,,  in  company  with  the  large  amphi- 
bians, but  spreading  more  and  more  as  the  ages  passed 
on,  till  they  in  their  turn  became  monarchs  of  the 
globe.  Already,  when  the  coal -forests  had  but  just 
passed  away,  a  lizard,"*  in  some  points  like  the  moni- 
tors that  now  wander  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  was 
living  among  his  humbler  neighbours ;  and  from  that 
time  onwards  we  find  more  and  more  reptiles,  till 
just  before  the  time  when  our  white  chalk  was  being 
formed  by  the  tiny  slime-animals  at  the  bottom  of 
the  sea,  we  should  have  seen  strange  sights  if  we  could 
have  been  upon  the  globe.  For  the  great  eft  was  no 
longer 

" lord  and  master  of  earth." 

All  over  the  world,  and  even  in  our  own  little 
England,  which  was  then  part  of  a  great  continent, 
cold-blooded  reptiles  of  all  sizes,  from  lizards  a  few 
inches  long  to  monsters  measuring  fifty  or  sixty  feet 
from  head  to  tail,  swarmed  upow  the  land,  in  the 

*  Protorosaurus  or  Thuringian  lizard. 


92  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

water,  and  in  the  air.  There  were  among  them  a 
few  kinds  something  like  our  tortoises,  lizards,  and 
crocodiles ;  but  the  greater  number  were  forms 
which  have  quite  died  out  since  birds  and  beasts 
have  spread  over  the  earth,  and  a  wonderful  and 
powerful  set  they  were. 

Some  were  vegetable -feeders,  which  browsed 
upon  the  trees  or  fed  upon  the  water -weeds,  as  our 
elephants  and  giraffes,  our  hippopotamuses  and  sea- 
cows  do  now.  Others  were  ferocious  animal -eaters, 
and  their  large  pointed  teeth  made  havoc  among 
their  reptile  companions,  as  lions  and  tigers  do 
among  .beasts.  Some  swam  in  the  water  devouring 
the  fish,  while  others,  like  birds  or  bats,  soared  in 
the  air. 

In  the  open  ocean  were  the  sea -lizards,  some 
called  Fish-Lizards,*  like  huge  porpoises  thirty  feet 
long,  but  really  cold-blooded  reptiles,  with  paddles 
for  legs,  and  long  flattened  tails  for  swimming. 
Woe  to  the  heavily -enamel-scaled  fish  when  these 
monsters  came  along,  their  pointed  teeth  hanging  in 
their  widely-gaping  mouths  as  they  raised  their  huge 
heads,  with  large  open  eyes,  out  of  the  water  !  Then 
among  these  were  others  with  long  swan-like  necks 
and  small  heads,!  which  would  strike  at  the  fish 
below  them  in  the  water,  while  other  slender,  long- 
bodied  monsters,J  measuring  more  than  seventy  feet 
from  tip  to  tail,  flapped  along  the  sea -shore  with 
their  four  large  paddles,  or  swam  out  to  sea  like 
veritable  sea-serpents,  devouring  all  that  came  in 
their  way.  These  were  all  water-reptiles,  while  there 
were  also  many  smaller  land -lizards  playing  about 

*  Ichthyosaurus,     f  Plesiosaurus.     +  Mosasaurus  and  Clidastes. 


REPTILE  LIFE  IN  ANCIENT  TIMES.  93 

upon  the  shore,  and  among  the  trees  and  bushes. 
But  the  strangest  of  all  were  perhaps  the  "  Flying 
reptiles  "  *  of  all  sizes,  from  one  as  small  as  a  sparrow 
to  one  which  measured  twenty-five  feet  from  tip  to 
tip  of  its  wings.  These  reptiles  did  not  fly  like 
birds,  for  they  had  no  feathers,  but  only  a  broad 
membrane,  stretching  from  the  fifth  finger  of  their 
front  claw  to  their  body,  and  with  this  they  must 
have  flown  much  as  bats  do  now,  while  some  of  them 
were  armed  not  only  with  claws,  but  also  with 
hooked  beaks  and  sharp  teeth,  with  which  they 
could  tear  their  prey. 

And  meanwhile  upon  the  land  were  wandering 
huge  creatures,  larger  than  any  animal  now  living, 
which  were  true  reptiles  with  teeth  in  their  mouths, 
yet  they  walked  on  their  hind  legs  like  birds,  pro- 
bably only  touching  the  ground  with  their  short 
front  feet  from  time  to  time,  as  kangaroos  do. 
They  had  strong  feet  with  claws,  the  marks  of 
which  they  have  left  in  the  ground  over  which  they 
wandered,  supporting  themselves  by  their  powerful 
tails  as  they  went. 

Some  of  them  were  peaceful  vegetarians,t  brows- 
ing on  the  tree-ferns  and  palms,  and  rearing  their 
huge  bodies  to  tear  the  leaves  from  the  tall  pine- 
trees.  But  others  were  fierce  animal-feeders.  Fancy 
a  monster  thirty  feet  high,:}:  with  a  head  four  or  five 
feet  long,  and  a  mouth  armed  with  sabre-like  teeth, 
standing  upon  its  hind  legs  and  attacking  other 
creatures  smaller  than  itself,  or  preying  upon  those 
other  huge  reptiles  which  were  feeding  peacefully 

*  Pterodactyls,      f  Tguanodon  in  Europe,  Hadrosaurus  in  America. 
£  Megalosaurus  in  Europe,  Dryptosaurus  in  America. 


94  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

among  the  trees.  Surely  a  battle  between  a  lion 
and  an  elephant  now  would  count  as  nothing  com- 
pared to  the  reptile -fights  which  must  have  taken 
place  on  those  vast  American  lands  of  the  west,  or 
on  the  European  pasture-grounds,  where  now  the 
remains  of  these  monsters  are  found. 

But  where  are  they  all  gone  ?  We  know  that 
they  have  lived,  for  we  can  put  together  the  huge 
joints  of  their  backbones,  restore  their  gigantic  limbs, 
and  measure  their  formidable  teeth,  but  they  them- 
selves have  vanished  like  a  dream.  As  time  went 
on,  other  and  more  modern  forms,  the  ancestors  of 
our  tortoises,  lizards,  crocodiles,  and  afterwards  snakes, 
began  to  take  the  place  of  these  gigantic  types  ;  while 
warm-blooded  animals,  birds  and  beasts,  began  to 
increase  upon  the  earth.  Whether  it  was  that  food 
became  scarce  for  these  enormous  reptiles,  or  whether 
the  birds  and  beasts  drove  them  from  their  haunts, 
we  are  not  yet  able  to  find  out.  At  any  rate  they 
disappeared,  as  the  ancient  enamelled  fishes  and 
large  newts  had  disappeared  before  them,  and  soon 
after  the  beds  of  white  chalk  were  formed,  which 
now  border  the  south  of  England  and  north  of 
France,  only  the  four  divisions  of  tortoises,  lizards, 
crocodiles,  and  snakes,  survived  as  remnants  of  the 
great  army  of  reptiles  which  once  covered  the  earth. 

Ah  !  if  we  could  only  have  a  whole  book  upon 
reptiles  to  show  how  strangely  different  these  four 
remaining  groups  have  become  during  the  long 
ages  that  they  have  been  using  different  means  of 
defence ;  and  how,  even  in  a  single  group,  they 
employ  so  many  varied  stratagems  to  survive  in  the 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  THE  TORTOISE.        95 

battle  of  life  !  Look  at  the  tortoises,  with  their  hard 
impregnable  shells,  the  crocodiles  with  their  sharp- 
pointed  teeth  and  tough  armour-plated  skins,  and 
the  silently-gliding  snakes  with  their  poisonous  fangs 
or  powerful  crushing  coils.  See  how  the  tiny-scaled 
lizard  darts  out  upon  an  insect  and  is  gone  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  and  then  watch  the  solemn 
chamaeleon  trusting  to  his  dusky  colour  for  protection, 
and  scarcely  putting  one  foot  before  another  in  the 
space  of  a  minute. 

Each  of  these  has  his  own  special  device  for 
escaping  the  dangers  of  life  and  attacking  other 
animals,  and  yet  we  shall  find,  before  we  finish  this 
chapter,  that  they  are  all  formed  on  one  plan,  and 
that  it  is  in  adapting  themselves  to  their  different 
positions  in  life  that  they  have  become  so  unlike 
each  other. 

We  shall  all  allow  that  the  Tortoises  are  the 
most  singular  of  any,  and  it  is  curious  that  they  are 
also  in  many  ways  the  nearest  to  the  frogs  and  newts, 
although  they  are  true  reptiles.  Slow  ponderous 
creatures,  with  hard  bony  heads  (Fig.  20),  wide-open 
expressionless  eyes,  horny  beaks,  and  thick  clumsy 
legs,  the  tortoises  seem  at  first  sight  to  be  only  half 
alive,  as  they  lumber  along, 

"  Moving  their  feet  in  a  deliberate  measure 
Over  the  turf," 

carrying  their  heavy  shell,  and  eating,  when  they 
do  eat,  in  a  dull  listless  kind  of  way.  They  do,  in 
truth,  live  very  feebly,  for  they  can  only  fill  their  lungs 
with  air  by  taking  it  in  at  the  nostrils  and  swallowing 
it  as  frogs  do,  and  then  letting  it  drift  out  again  as  the 
lungs  collapse,  for  their  hard  shell  prevents  them  from 


96  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

pumping  it  in  and  out  by  the  movement  of  their  ribs 
like  other  reptiles.  This  slowness  of  breathing  and 
the  fact  that  they  have  only  three-chambered  hearts 
like  frogs  (see  p.  76),  so  that  the  good  and  bad  blood 
mix  at  every  round,  causes  them  to  be  very  inactive, 
and  they  digest  their  food  very  slowly,  and  have  been 
known  to  live  months  and  even  years  without  eating. 

Fig.  20. 


The  Greek  Tortoise. 

This  sluggishness  would,  indeed,  certainly  be 
their  ruin  in  a  bustling  greedy  world,  if  it  were  not 
for  the  strong  box  in  which  they  live.  Take  in  your 
hand  one  of  the  small  Greek  *  or  American  f  tor- 
toises, so  often  sold  as  pets,  and  you  will  see  how 
well  he  can  draw  back  out  of  harm's  way,  while  at 

*  Testudo  Grzecn.  t  Testudo  talenlata. 


STRUCTURE  OF  THE  TORTOISE.  97 

the  same  time  you  will,  I  think,  be  sorely  puzzled 
to  understand  how  he  is  made.  His  head,  his  four 
legs,  and  his  tail,  with  their  thick  scaly  skin,  are 
intelligible  enough.  But  why  do  all  these  grow  on 
to  the  inside  of  his  shell,  so  that  when  you  trace  them 
up  you  cannot  find  the  rest  of  his  soft  body  ?  You 
would  hardly  guess  that  his  shell  is  the  rest  of  his 
body,  or  at  least  of  his  skeleton.  But  it  is  so.  The 
arched  dome  which  covers  his  back  is  made  of  his 
backbone  and  ribs,  and  the  shelly  plates  arranged 
over  it  are  his  skin  hardened  into  horny  shields, 
which,  in  the  Hawksbill  turtle,  form  the  tortoise-shell 
which  is  peeled  off  for  our  use  ;  while  the  flat  shell 
under  his  body  is  the  hardened  skin  of  his  belly,  and 
the  "bones  which  belong  to  it. 

Let  us  make  this  clear,  for  it  is  a  strange  his- 
tory. If  you  look  at  the  skeleton  of  a  lizard  (Fig. 
23,  p.  103),  it  is  all  straight -forward  enough.  His 
head  fits  on  to  his  long- jointed  backbone,  which 
is  able  to  bend  in  all  parts  freely,  down  to  the 
very  tip  of  his  tail.  His  front  legs  with  their 
shoulder  bones  (s),  and  his  hind  leg's  with  their  hip 
bones  (/*),  are  attached  in  their  proper  places  to  his 
backbone,  and  lastly,  his  ribs  (r)  protect  the  inside 
of  his  body,  and  by  expanding  and  contracting 
pump  the  air  in  and  out  of  his  lungs,  the  front  ribs 
being  joined  underneath  in  a  breastbone.  It  is  easy 
to  see,  therefore,  that  the  lizard  may  be  active  and 
nimble,  twisting  his  body  hither  and  thither,  and 
escaping  his  enemies  by  his  quickness.  But  the 
tortoise  is  slow  and  sluggish,  and  has  only  managed 
to  baffle  the  numberless  animals  which  are  looking 
out  for  a  meal  by  fabricating  a  strong  box  to  live 


98 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


in.  But  he  had  to  make  this  out  of  the  same  kind 
of  skeleton  as  the  lizard,  with  the  one  difference  that 
he  has  no  breastbone.  Let  us  see  how  it  has  been 
brought  about  The  bones  of  his  neck  are  jointed 
and  free  enough  as  you  can  see  (Fig.  21),  and  so  are 
the  joints  of  his  tail,  beginning  from  behind  his  hip 
bones  (/i).  But  with  his  back  it  is  different.  The 

Fig.  21. 


Carapace  of  the  Tortoise. 

/,  Joints  of  the  backbone  grown  together  ;  r,  ribs  formed  into  a  solid 
cover ;  sh,  shoulder  bones  ;  h,  hip  bones  covered  by  carapace,  which  has 
grown  over  them. 

backbone  can  be  clearly  seen  inside  the  empty  shell, 
running  from  head  to  tail  so  as  to  cover  the  nerve- 
telegraph,  but  the  joints  (/)  have  all  grown  together, 
and  on  the  top  they  have  become  flattened  into  hard 


STRUCTURE  OF  THE  TORTOISE.  99 

plates,*  while  the  ribs  (r)  which  are  joined  to  them 
have  also  been  flattened  out  and  have  grown  firmly 
together  so  as  to  make  an  arched  cover  or  carapace. 
If  now  you  look  at  the  back  of  the  young  tortoise 
(Fig.  22),  which  has  been  taken  out  of  the  egg  before 
it  was  full-grown,  you  will  see  these  plates  (/)  on  the 

Fig.   22. 


Back  of  a  Young  Tortoise. — (From  Rathke.) 

ts,  Tortoise-shell  covering  the  whole  carapace ;  this  has  been 
removed  on  the  right  side ;  mp,  marginal  plates  binding  the  edges  of 
the  ribs  ;  np,  neck-plate  ;  /,  plates  formed  of  the  top  of  the  backbone 
joints  which  have  grown  together  ;  r,  ribs  which  have  not  yet  spread 
out  so  as  to  form  a  continuous  shell ;  lmt  lm\  front  and  hind  leg 
muscles  not  yet  covered  by  the  carapace. 

side  where  the  tortoise-shell  (ts)  has  been  peeled  off. 
They  have  not  yet  widened  out  enough  to  be  joined 
together,  and  the  ribs  (r)  are  as  yet  only  united  by 

*  The  parts  of  the  joints  which  flatten  out  in  the  tortoise  are  seen 
at  sp  in  the  lizard  and  snake,  pp.  103,  in. 


ioo  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

strong  gristle.  But  what  is  that  row  of  oblong 
plates  (tnp)  round  the  edge  ?  Those  are  the  mar- 
ginal plates,  and  they  are  mere  skin  bones,  like  the 
bony  plates  of  the  crocodile,  but  they  are  all  firmly 
fixed  together  so  as  to  bind  the  edges  of  the  ribs, 
while  plates  of  the  same  kind  form  the  shell  under  the 
body,  and  the  whole  is  covered  by  the  horny  skin. 

But  there  still  remains  another  great  puzzle. 
How  come  the  shoulder  bones  and  hip  bones  of  the 
tortoise  to  be  inside  his  ribs  instead  of  being  outside 
them,  as  in  other  animals?  But  look  again  at  our 
baby  tortoise,  and  you  will  see  that  the  muscles  of  his 
front  legs  (lin,  Fig.  22)  are  not  covered  by  ribs,  neither 
are  those  of  his  hind  legs  (/;«').  They  stand  just  like 
those  of  other  animals,  in  front  between  the  ribs  and 
the  neck,  and  behind  between  the  ribs  and  the  tail. 
But  as  the  tortoise  grows  up,  the  bony  plates  press 
forwards  and  backwards,  and  cover  up  the  shoulders 
and  hips,  protecting  the  soft  legs  and  neck,  and  giv- 
ing him  the  curious  appearance  of  living  inside  his 
own  backbone  and  ribs. 

In  this  way,  then,  the  tortoises  have  managed 
to  hold  their  own  in  the  world.  Living  slowly, 
so  that  they  sometimes  go  on  growing  up  to  eighty 
years  old,  wanting  but  little  food,  and  escaping  the 
cold  by  sleeping  the  winter  months  away  in  some 
sheltered  nook,  they  ask  but  little  from  Life,  while 
they  escape  the  dangers  of  sluggishness  by  growing 
their  skeletons  so  as  to  form  a  citadel  which  even 
birds  and  beasts  of  prey  can  rarely  break  through. 
They  are,  it  is  true,  often  eaten  when  young,  and 
the  jaguar  of  Brazil  knows  how  to  dig  the  poor 
American  tortoise  out  of  his  shell  and  eat  him  ;  while 


LAND  AND  RIVER  TORTOISES.  101 

large  birds  are  formidable  enemies  to  our  Greek  tor- 
toise, and  are  said  to  drop  it  down  on  the  rocks,  and 
break  it  to  pieces.  But,  on  the  whole,  they  escape 
most  of  these  dangers,  and  wander  in  the  woods  and 
dry  sandy  places  of  sunny  Greece  and  Palestine,  lay- 
ing their  bullet-shaped  eggs  in  warm  spots  to  hatch, 
seldom  wandering  far  from  home,  and  lying  down 
for  their  winter's  sleep  under  heaps  of  drifted  leaves 
or  in  holes  of  the  ground. 

These  are  true  Land-tortoises,*  and  so  are  the 
gigantic  tortoises  which  used  to  live  in  the  island  of 
Aldabra,  and  others  still  surviving  in  the  Galapagos 
and  other  islands  near  Madagascar,  which  weigh  at 
least  200  pounds,  and  on  whose  backs  Mr.  Darwin 
rode  when  he  found  them  travelling  up  the  island  to 
get  water  to  drink,  feeding  on  the  juicy  cactus  as  they 
went.  Some  carapaces  in  our  museums  belonging 
to  these  tortoises  measure  four  feet  long  and  three 
broad ;  yet  they  were  timid  fellows  when  alive,  drawing 
back  completely  within  their  shells  when  danger  was 
near.  We  even  find  some  smaller  land-tortoises  t  in 
America,  called  the  Box-tortoises,  which  have  soft 
joints  in  their  under  shell,  so  that  they  can  draw  it 
up  both  in  front  and  behind,  shutting  themselves 
completely  in. 

Not  so  the  River  -  tortoises,  J  which  are  greedy 
animal-feeders,  and  as  they  live  in  the  water  do  not 
need  the  same  protection.  Their  box  is  much  flatter 
and  more  open  at  the  ends,  so  as  to  allow  them  to 
swim  freely  with  their  webbed  feet  ;  and  they  are 
fierce  and  bold,  the  Snapping  Turtle§  of  the  lakes  and 

*  Testudinea.  t  Terrapins.  J  Emyx  and  Trionys. 

§  Chelydra  serpentina. 


102  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

rivers  of  America  being  a  terrible  fellow,  tearing  the 
frogs  and  fishes  in  the  water  with  his  sharp  claws, 
and  even  snapping  strong  sticks  in  half  with  his  power- 
ful beak.  The  Mud-tortoises,  too,  which  swim  swiftly 
with  their  strong  legs  and  long  neck  outstretched, 
do  not  need  a  hard  shell,  and  they  have  scarcely  any 
plate  below,  and  only  a  gristly  leathery  covering  above, 
which  looks  very  like  the  mud  in  which  they  hide. 

Lastly  the  Sea-tortoises  or  Turtles,  which  swim  in 
the  warm  parts  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans, 
have  only  an  open  flat  shell  under  which  they  cannot 
draw  their  head  and  feet,  for  they  strike  out  boldly 
into  the  open  ocean,  feeding  on  sea-weed,  jelly-fish, 
and  cuttle-fish,  rowing  grandly  along  with  their  broad 
paddles  which  they  feather  like  oars  as  they  go. 
They  have  only  one  time  of  weakness — when  they 
come  on  islands,  such  as  Ascension  and  the  Bahama 
Islands,  which  they  choose  probably  because  they  find 
fewer  large  animals  there.  There  the  mother  turtle 
arrives  at  night,  looking  fearfully  around,  and  if  all  is 
still  comes  flapping  in  over  the  sand,  and,  clearing  a 
hole  with  her  flippers,  lays  about  200  soft  round  eggs 
and  covers  them  up  and  leaves  them.  Then  in  about 
a  month  the  young  turtles  come  out  and  make  at  once 
for  sea,  though  many  of  them  fall  victims  to  large  birds 
of  prey  on  their  way.  Woe,  too,  to  the  mother  when 
she  is  laying  her  eggs,  if  these  large  birds  are  near, 
for  she  cannot  defend  her  soft  body  ;  or,  worse  still,  if 
the  natives  are  on  the  look-out  ;  for  then  the  Green 
Turtle,*  coming  ashore  from  the  Atlantic,  is  tilted 
over  on  her  back  and  killed  for  food  ;  and  the 
Hawk's-bill  Turtle  t  from  the  Indian  or  Pacific  Oceans 

*  Chelonia  midas.  f  Chelonia  imbricata. 


STRUCTURE  OF  THE  LIZARD. 


103 


is  cruelly  stripped  of  its  shell  for  ornaments.  Yet 
they  must  run  these  risks,  for  their  eggs  would  not 
hatch  without  the  warm  sun,  and  we  see  how  great 
is  the  gap  between  the  last  water -breathers  and  the 
first  air-breathers,  when  we  remember  that  the  frogs  go 
back  to  lay  their  eggs  in  the  water,  while  the  tortoises, 
even  when  they  live  far  out  at  sea,  are  forced  to 
come  in  to  shore,  in  spite  of  great  dangers,  to  lay  their 
eggs  that  their  little  ones  may  begin  life  upon  land. 

And  now,  if  we  leave  the   tortoises   and  turn  to 
Fig.  23. 


Skeleton  of  a  Lizard. 

spy  Spinous  processes,  which  in  the  tortoise  are  flattened  into  plates  ; 
r,  ribs  ;  s,  shoulder  bone  ;  a,  upper  arm  ;  e,  elbow  ;  fa,  forearm  ;  h, 
hip  bone  ;  th,  thigh  bone  ;  k,  knee ;  /,  bones  of  the  leg  ;  y,  quadrate 
bone  between  upper  and  lower  jaw. 

the  Lizards,  we  find  them  meeting  life's  difficulties  in 
quite  a  different  way.  Here  are  no  sluggish  move- 
ments, horny  beaks,  arid  strong  boxes ;  but  bright-eyed 
creatures  covered  with  shining  scales,  their  mouths 
filled  with  sharp  teeth,  with  which  even  the  small  lizards 
can  bite  fiercely,  and  having  nimble  lissome  bodies, 
which  wriggle  through  the  grass  or  up  the  trees  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  Yet  the  lizards,  as  we  have 
6 


io4  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

seen,  are  formed  on  the  same  plan  as  the  tortoise, 
and  their  scales  are  thickenings  in  their  outer  skin, 
just  as  his  tortoise-shell  is,  and  not  true  scales  like 
those  of  fish.  They  have  learned  to  hold  their  own 
by  sharpness  and  quickness,  and  are  probably  the 
most  intelligent  of  all  the  cold-blooded  animals, 
though  even  they  are  only  lively  in  a  jerky  way 
under  the  influence  of  warmth.  They  can  breathe 
more  easily  than  the  tortoise,  for  their  ribs  rise  and 
fall,  drawing  in  and  driving  out  the  air  they  need  ; 
but  they  are  still  cold-blooded,  for  their  heart  has 
only  three  chambers.  It  is  when  the  bright  sun  is 
shining  that  they  love  to  dart  about,  chasing  the 
insects  upon  which  they  feed  ;  and  the  joints  of  their 
backbone  move  so  easily  upon  each  other  that  they 
can  twist  and  turn  in  all  imaginable  ways,  keeping 
their  heads  twisted  in  a  most  comical  manner  when 
on  the  watch  for  flies.  Nay,  the  very  vertebrae  them- 
selves are  so  loosely  made  that  they  can  split  in 
half,  and  if  you  seize  a  lizard  by  the  tail  he  will 
most  likely  leave  it  in  your  hand  and  grow  another. 

They  can  live  both  in  dry  sandy  places,  where 
larger  animals  cannot  find  food  and  water,  and  in 
thick  underwood,  and  marshy  unhealthy  places, 
where  more  quickly -breathing  animals  would  be 
poisoned  by  the  fetid  air ;  and  we  find  them  swarm- 
ing in  hot  countries  in  spite  of  enemies,  their  scales 
protecting  them  from  the  rough  surface  of  the  rocks 
and  trees  on  which  they  glide,  their  feeble  legs 
scarcely  ever  lifting  their  body  from  the  object  on 
which  they  glide  rather  than  walk. 

The  true  land-creepers,  like  our  little  Scaly  Lizard,* 

*  Zootoca  vivipara. 


THE  LIZARD  TRIBE. 


Fig.  24. 


lurk  in  dry  woody  places,  and  on  heaths  and  banks, 
darting  out  on  the  unwary  insects.  Many  of  them 
lay  their  eggs  in  the  warm  sand  or  earth,  but  the 

Scaly  lizard  carries  them  till 
they    are    ready    to    break, 
so  that  the  young  ones  come 
out  lively  and  active  as  the 
eggs  are  laid.      Others  have 
taken     to     the    water,    and 
among  these  are  the  Moni- 
tors of  Africa  and  Australia, 
which  feed  on  frogs  and  fish 
and  crocodiles'  eggs,  and  are 
so  strong  and  fierce  that  they 
often    drag    larger    animals 
under  the  water.      Some  are 
tree  and  wall  climbers,  such 
as  the  "  Geckos,"  with  thick 
tongues  and 
dull  mottled 
skins,       and 
they     have 
sharp    claws 
and    suckers 
under     their 
toes,  so  that 
they     can 
hang  or  walk 
upside  down, 
on  ceilings  or 
overhanging 

rocks,  or  on  the  smooth  trunks  of  trees  ;  and  they 
love  to  chase  the  insects  in  the  hot  sultry  nights, 


Gecko  and  Chamaeleon. 


io6  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

tracking  them  to  their  secret  haunts.  They  are 
far  more  active  than  the  large  gentle  Iguanas  or 
Tree-Lizards  of  South  America,  from  a  few  inches  to 
five  feet  long,  which  may  be  seen  among  the  branches 
of  the  trees  of  Mexico,  their  beautiful  scales  glisten- 
ing in  the  sun  as  they  feed  on  the  flowers  and  fruit. 
They  swarm  on  all  sides  in  those  rich  forest  regions, 
scampering  over  the  ground,  and  then  clinging  with 
their  claws  to  the  tree-bark  as  they  gradually  mount 
up  into  the  dense  foliage ;  and  they  have  many 
advantages,  for  not  only  can  they  climb  to  great 
heights  out  of  the  reach  of  beasts  of  prey,  but  they 
can  also  swim  well,  having  been  known  to  fling  them- 
selves from  the  overhanging  branches  into  the  water 
below  when  danger  was  near.  They  do  not,  more- 
over, descend  as  gracefully  as  the  "  Flying  Lizards  " 
of  the  East  Indies,  which  have  a  fold  of  skin 
stretched  from  the  lengthened  ends  of  their  hinder 
ribs,  so  that  they  sail  from  branch  to  branch  as  they 
chase  the  butterflies  and  other  insects. 

But  the  most  curious  of  all  tree-  lizards  is  the 
Chamseleon,  with  his  soft  warty  skin,  his  round  skin- 
encircled  eyes,  his  birdlike  feet,  and  his  clinging  tail 
He  never  hurries  himself,  but  putting  forward  a  leg, 
at  the  end  of  which  is  a  foot  whose  claws  are  divided 
into  two  bundles,  he  very  deliberately  grasps  the 
branch,  as  a  parrot  does,  loosens  his  tail,  draws  him- 
self forward,  and  then  fastens  on  again  with  tail  and 
claws  ;  while  his  eyes,  each  peering  out  of  a  thick 
covering  skin,  roll  round  quite  independently  of  each 
other,  one  looking  steadily  to  the  right,  while  the  other 
may  be  making  a  journey  to  the  left.  What  is  he 
looking  for?  Just  ahead  of  him  on  a  twig  sits  a  fly 


THE  CHAMELEON.  ro/ 

but  he  cannot  reach  him  yet.  So  once  more  a  leg 
comes  out,  and  his  body  is  drawn  gradually  forwards. 
Snap  !  In  a  moment  his  mouth  has  opened,  his  tube- 
like  tongue,  with  clubbed  and  sticky  tip,  has  darted 
out  and  struck  the  fly,  and  carried  it  down  his  throat, 
while  the  chamseleon  looks  as  if  he  had  never  moved. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  that  such  a  slow-moving 
animal,  whose  natural  colour  is  a  brownish  green 
like  the  leaves  among  which  he  moves,  would  often 
escape  unseen  from  his  enemies.  And  when  light 
falls  upon  him,  his  tint  changes  by  the  movement 
of  the  colour-cells  in  his  skin,  which  seem  to  vary 
according  to  the  colour  of  the  objects  around,  when- 
ever he  is  awake  and  can  see  them. 

So  by  the  waterside,  on  the  land,  and  among  the 
trees,  the  lizard  tribe  still  flourish  in  spite  of  higher 
animals  ;  and  just  as  we  found  some  legless  kinds 
among  the  ampJiibia  burrowing  in  the  ground,  so 
here,  too,  we  find  legless  lizards,  some  with  small 
scaly  spikes  in  the  place  of  hind  legs,  others,  like  the 
glass-snake  of  America*  and  our  English  slowwormt 
(or  blindworm),  which  have  no  trace  of  feet  outside 
the  skin,  but  glide  along  under  grass  and  leaves,  eat- 
ing slugs  and  other  small  creatures,  though  they  are 
true  lizards  with  shoulder  bones  and  breastbones 
under  the  skin. 

Here,  then,  we  seem  to  be  drifting  along  the  road 
to  snake-life,  but  we  must  halt  and  travel  first  in 
another  direction,  upwards  to  a  higher  group  of 
animals,  which  may  almost  be  called  gigantic  flesh- 
eating  lizards,  though  they  are  far  more  formidable 

*  Ophisaurus  ventralis.  f  Anguis  fragilis. 


io8 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


and  highly -organised  creatures.  These  are  the 
Crocodiles,  and  no  one  looking  at  them  can  doubt 
'for  a  moment  that  they  at  least  are  well  armed,  so 
as  to  have  an  easy  time  of  it  without  much  exertion. 
Huge  creatures,  often  more  than  twenty  feet  long, 
with  enormous  heads  and  wide-opening  mouths,  hold-' 
ing  more  than  thirty  teeth  in  each  jaw,  they  look 

Fig.  25. 


The  Nile  Crocodile. — (Tristram. 


formidable  indeed  as  they  drag  their  heavy  bodies 
along  the  muddy  banks  of  the  Nile,  their  legs  not 
being  strong  enough  to  lift  them  from  the  ground. 
Their  whole  body  is  covered  with  strong  horny 
shields,  and  under  these  shields,  on  the  back,  are 
thick  bony  plates,  which  will  turn  even  a  bullet  aside, 
and  quite  protect  the  crocodile  from  the  fangs  of 


STRUCTURE  OF  THE  CROCODILE.  109 

wild  beasts.  Their  eyelids  are  thick  and  strong,  and 
they  have  a  third  skin  which  they  can  draw  over 
the  eye  sideways  like  birds  ;  their  ears,  too,  have  flaps 
to  cover  them,  and  their  teeth  are  stronger  and  more 
perfect  than  any  we  have  yet  seen,  for  they  are  set  in 
sockets,  and  new  ones  grow  up  inside  the  lower  part 
of  the  old  ones  as  they  are  broken  or  worn  away. 

But  it  is  in  the  water  that  we  see  them  in  their 
full  strength  ;  there  they  swim  with  their  webbed 
feet  and  strokes  of  their  powerful  tail,  and  feed 
upon  the  fishes  and  water  animals — monarchs  of 
all  they  survey.  Nor  is  the  crocodile  content  with 
mere  fish-diet  Often  he  will  lie  with  his  nostrils 
just  above  the  water  and  wait  till  some  animal — it 
may  be  a  goat,  or  a  hog,  or  even  a  good-sized  calf — 
comes  to  drink,  then  he  will  come  up  slowly  towards 
it,  seize  it  in  his  formidable  jaws,  or  sometimes 
strike  it  with  his  powerful  tail,  and  drag  it  under 
water  to  drown.  For  he  himself  can  shut  down  his 
eyelids  and  the  flaps  over  his  ears,  and  he  has  a 
valve  in  the  back  of  his  throat  which  he  can  close, 
and  prevent  the  water  rushing  down  his  open  mouth  ; 
and  after  a  while  he  rises  slowly  till  his  nostrils  are 
just  above  the  water,  and  he  can  breathe  freely  while 
his  victim  is  drowning,  because  his  nose-holes  are  very 
far  back  behind  the  valve.  Then  when  it  is  dead 
he  brings  it  to  shore  to  tear  it  to  pieces  and  eat  it. 

Thus  the  crocodiles  of  the  Nile  and  the  Ganges, 
the  Gavials  with  their  long  narrow  snouts,  and  the 
Alligators  of  America,  with  their  shorter  and  broader 
heads,  feed  on  fish  and  beasts,  and  all  dead  and 
putrid  matter,  acting  as  scavengers  of  the  rivers  ; 
while  they  themselves  are  almost  free  from  attack, 


no  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFERS  RACE. 

except  when  tigers  fall  upon  them  on  land.  But  it 
is  the  young  crocodiles  which  run  the  most  risks 
when  they  come  out  of  the  small  chalky  eggs  which 
have  been  hatched  in  the  warm  sand  of  the  shore. 
True,  their  mother  often  watches  over  them  at  this 
time,  and  even  feeds  them  from  her  own  mouth  ; 
but  in  spite  of  her  care  many  of  them  are  eaten  in 
their  youth  by  the  tortoises  and  fishes  which  they 
would  themselves  have  devoured  by-and-by,  if  they 
had  lived  to  grow  up  ;  while  the  monitors,  ichneu- 
mons, waterfowl,  and  even  monkeys,  devour  large 
numbers  of  crocodiles'  eggs. 

And  now,  if  we  were  to  turn  our  backs  upon  the 
great  rivers  in  which  these  animals  dwell,  and  wander 
into  the  Indian  jungle  or  the  South  American  forest, 
we  might  meet  with  enemies  far  more  dangerous 
and  deadly,  although  they  stand  much  lower  in  the 
reptile  world.  Who  would  think  that  the  huge  boa 
of  South  America,  and  the  python  and  poisonous 
cobra  of  India,  or  even  our  own  little  viper,  whose 
bite  is  often  death  to  its  victim,  are  creatures  of 
lower  structure  than  the  harmless  little  lizard  or  the 
stupid  alligator  ?  Yet  so  it  is.  For  Snakes  have  no 
breastbone  and  have  lost  all  vestiges  of  front  legs 
and  shoulder  bones,  nor  have  they  any  hips  or  hind 
legs  except  among  the  boas  and  rock-snakes ;  and  even 
these  have  only  small  traces  of  hips,  which  carry 
some  crooked  bones,  ending  in  horny  or  fleshy  claws, 
in  the  place  where  hind  legs  ought  to  be.  They  have 
no  eyelids  (and  by  this  we  may  know  them  from  the 
legless  lizards),  but  their  skin  grows  right  over  the 
eyes,  so  that  when  a  snake  casts  its  skin  there  are 


STRUCTURE  OF  SNAKES. 


in 


no  holes  where  the  eyes  have  been,  but  only  clear 
round  spaces  like  watch-glasses,  in  the  scaly  skin. 
Their  ears  have  no  drum,  and  are  quite  hidden  under 
the  scales  with  which  their  body  is  so  thickly  covered 
that  they  must  feel  very  little  as  they  glide  along. 
These  scales,  like  those  of  the  lizard,  are  thickened 
parts  of  the  outer  skin,  and  if  you  stretch  a  piece 
of  snake-skin  you  can  see  them  lying  embedded  in 
it,  the  clear  skin  itself  showing  between. 


Skeleton  of  a  Snake. 

sp,  Spinous  processes  of  the  joints  ;  r,  ribs ;  q,  quadrate  bones, 
joining  upper  and  lower  jaws  ;  ^,  front  of  the  lower  jaw,  where  there 
is  an  elastic  band  in  the  place  of  bone ;  l>,  ball  end  of  joint,  facing 
the  tail ;  <:,  cup  end  of  joint,  facing  the  head. 

We  must  not,  however,  imagine  that  the  snake 
is  at  a  disadvantage  because  he  has  lost  so  many 
parts  which  other  reptiles  possess.  On  the  contrary, 
he  has  most  probably  lost  them  because  he  can  do 
better  without  them.  The  transparent  tough  skin 
over  his  eye  is  a  far  better  protection  in  narrow 


ii2  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RA  CE. 

rugged  places,  and  among  brakes  and  brambles,  than 
a  soft  movable  eyelid  ;  and  if  he  does  not  see  as  well 
as  the  crocodile,  he  has  a  most  delicate  organ  of  touch 
in  his  long,  narrow,  forked  tongue,  with  which  he 
is  constantly  feeling  as  he  goes,  touching  now  on  one 
side,  now  on  the  other,  each  object  he  comes  near, 
and  drawing  the  tongue  in  at  every  moment  to 
moisten  it  in  a  sheath  at  the  back  of  his  throat.  A 
breast  bone,  moreover,  would  have  been  a  decided 
hindrance  to  him,  for  he  wants  the  free  use  of  all  his 
ribs  ;  and  as  to  the  loss  of  his  legs — in  the  place  of 
four  he  has  often  more  than  two  hundred.  For  all 
along  his  backbone,  except  just  at  the  head  and  tail, 
a  pair  of  ribs  grow  from  each  vertebra,  being  joined  to 
it  by  a  cup-and-ball  joint  (c  and  b,  Fig.  26),  and  the 
muscles  between  them  are  so  elastic  that  the  ribs 
can  be  drawn  out  so  that  the  body  seems  to  swell, 
and  then  drawn  back  towards  the  tail.  In  doing  this 
they  strike  the  ground  and  the  snake  moves  for- 
wards, just  as  a  centipede  does  on  its  hundred  legs. 

It  is  worth  while  to  take  our  harmless  Ringed 
Snake  in  your  hand  to  feel  this  curious  movement 
to  and  fro  of  the  ribs,  and  to  notice  how  the  creature 
forces  itself  through  your  grasp.  Moreover,  you  will 
learn  at  the  same  time  one  use  of  the  broad  single 
plates  under  the  snake's  body  (see  Fig.  27),  for  they, 
like  all  the  scales,  are  loose  from  the  skin  on  the 
side  towards  the  tail ;  and  as  they  are  fastened  by 
muscles  to  the  ends  of  the  ribs,  you  will  find  that 
at  each  movement  they  stand  up  a  little  like  tiles 
on  a  roof,  and  their  edges  coming  against  your  hand 
help  to  drive  the  snake  forward. 

Another  thing  you  will  learn  if  the  snake  does 


MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  SNAKE.  113 

not  know  you,  and  that  is  how  strangely  they  hiss, 
often  with  their  mouth  closed,  while  their .  whole 
body  seems  to  quiver.  This  is  very  puzzling  at  first, 
till  you  learn  that  one  of  their  lungs  has  shrunk  up, 
and  the  other  is  a  very  long  and  narrow  bag  stretch- 
ing nearly  the  whole  length  of  the  snake's  stomach, 

Fig.  27. 


ill 


Common  Ringed  Snake.* 
Where  the  body  is  coiled  the  single  under  plates  are  seen. 

and  the  hissing  sound  is  made  by  drawing  in  and 
forcing  out  the  air  from  this  long  bag. 

Meanwhile,  another  way  in  which  the  snake  will 
escape  from  your  hold  unless  you  grasp  it  tightly,  is 
by  wriggling  in  all  directions,  so  that  you  do  not  know 
where  to  expect  it  next ;  for  the  whole  of  the  joints  of 

*  Natrix  torquata. 


ii4  THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

its  backbone  are  joined  by  a  succession  of  cups-and- 
balls,  the  ball  of  one  joint  fitting  into  the  cup  in  the 
one  behind  it.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  such  joints  can 
move  almost  every  way,  since  the  ball  can  twist  freely 
in  the  cup  wherever  the  muscles  pull  it  (except  where 
checked  by  the  spines  on  the  top  of  the  backbone), 
and  can  even  turn  so  much  to  one  side  that  the 
snake  can  coil  itself  round  or  tie  itself  into  a  knot. 

A  creature  that  can  glide  along  so  smoothly, 
twist  about  so  freely  round  trees,  through  narrow 
openings  and  tangled  brushwood,  and  even  swim  in 
the  water,  has  no  small  advantage  in  life  ;  and  the 
snake  can  also  coil  itself  up  under  a  heap  of  dead 
leaves  or  in  a  hollow  trunk  of  a  tree  for  safety,  or  to 
watch  for  its  prey  when  no  animal  would  suspect  it 
was  near.  But  even  the  harmless  snakes  have  some- 
thing besides  this,  namely,  the  power  of  swallowing 
animals  much  broader  and  thicker  than  themselves. 
You  will  see  on  looking  at  the  lizard's  skull  (p.  103) 
that  its  bottom  jaw  is  not  joined  at  once  to  the  top 
one,  but  there  is  a  bone  (q)  between,  which  enables  it 
to  open  its  mouth  wider  than  if  the  two  jaws  touched 
each  other.  Now  this  bone  (g)  in  the  snake's  jaw  is 
so  loosely  hung  that  it  moves  very  easily,  and  the 
lower  jaw  also  stretches  back  far  behind  the  upper 
one,  so  that  when  the  snake  brings  the  jaw  forward 
it  can  open  its  mouth  enormously  wide.  Nor  is 
this  all  ;  it  can  actually  stretch  the  bones  of  its  jaws 
apart,  for  they  have  not  their  pieces  all  firmly  fixed 
together.  In  the  front  of  the  mouth  each  jaw  has 
elastic  gristle  in  the  place  of  bone,  and  the  two  halves 
of  the  jaw  can  thus  be  forced  apart  from  each  other, 
making  room  for  a  very  large  mouthful  indeed. 


THE  SNAKE'S  MO  UTH.  1 1 5 

Now  the  snake's  teeth  are  all  curved  towards  the 
back  of  his  mouth,  and  they  are  never  used  for  chew- 
ing or  tearing,  but  only  for  holding  and  packing 

Fig.  28. 


The  Boa  Constrictor  in  the  Forests  of  South  America. 

down  its  food.     So  when  he  seizes  a  creature  too  large 
to  be  easily  swallowed,  he  fastens  his  front  teeth  into 


u6  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

it  and  then  brings  forward  one  side  of  his  jaws.  He 
then  fixes  the  teeth  of  this  side  into  the  animal,  and 
holds  it  fast  while  he  brings  forward  the  jaws  on  the 
other  side,  fixes  these  teeth,  then  loosens  and  brings 
forward  the  others,  and  so  on.  In  this  way  he  keeps 
his  mouth  stretched  over  the  prey  and  gradually  forces 
it  down  his  elastic  throat,  moistening  it  well  all  the 
time  with  slime  from  two  glands,  one  on  each  side  of 
his  mouth,  and  when  it  is  swallowed  he  lies  down  and 
rests  while  the  stomach  digests  its  heavy  load. 

We  see,  then,  that  even  harmless  snakes  have 
many  advantages.  Thus  our  ringed  snake,  feeding 
on  mice  and  lizards,  frogs  and  fish,  wanders  through 
the  grass  and  bushes  of  warm  sunny  banks,  feeling 
this  side  and  that  with  his  delicate  forked  tongue, 
and  gliding  so  fast  that  the  lizards  and  mice  try 
in  vain  to  escape  ;  while  in  the  water  he  seizes 
the  frogs  by  their  hind  legs  and  jerks  them  into  his 
mouth.  He  does  not  even  always  stop  to  kill  his 
food,  for  a  live  frog  has  been  known  to  jump  out  of 
a  snake's  mouth  as  it  yawned  after  its  meal.  So  he 
lives  through  the  summer,  changing  his  skin  several 
times  by  loosening  it  first  at  the  lips,  so  that  two 
flaps  lie  back  over  the  head  and  neck,  and  then 
rubbing  himself  through  moss,  bush,  or  bramble,  so 
that  the  skin  is  drawn  off  inside  out  like  a  glove,  and 
the  new  skin  appears  underneath,  fresh,  hard,  and 
bright,  ready  for  use.  Then  in  the  warm  season  the 
mother  lays  her  ten  or  twenty  soft  eggs  in  a  mass 
of  slime,  and  leaves  them  in  some  sunny  spot,  or 
under  a  heap  of  warm  manure  to  hatch,  and  she 
herself  wanders  away,  and  when  winter  comes  coils 
herself  up  in  the  trunk  of  some  hollow  tree,  or 


SNAKES.  117 

under  the  hedge,  to  sleep  till  spring  comes  round 
again.  Life  does  not  always,  however,  flow  so 
smoothly  as  this,  for  the  snakes  have  their  enemies  ; 
the  fox  and  the  hedgehog  love  to  feed  upon  them, 
the  buzzard  and  other  birds  of  prey  swoop  down 
upon  them  from  above,  and  the  weasels  attack 
them  below;  and  this,  perhaps,  is  partly  the  reason 
why  the  ringed  snake  generally  keeps  near  the 
water,  into  which  it  can  glide  when  danger  threatens. 

All  snakes  are  not,  however,  so  harmless  as  our 
little  ringed  snake.  The  Pythons  of  India  and  the 
Boas  of  America,  though  they  have  no  poison  in 
their  teeth,  can  work  terrible  mischief  with  their 
powerful  joints  as  they  coil  round  even  good-sized 
animals,  such  as  an  antelope  or  a  wild  boar,  and 
crush  them  in  their  folds.  Then  it  may  be  seen 
what  a  terrible  weapon  this  flexible  backbone  is,  as 
the  muscles  draw  it  tighter  and  tighter  round  the 
unfortunate  animal,  breaking  its  bones  in  pieces,  till, 
when  it  is  soft  enough  to  be  swallowed,  the  snake 
gradually  forces  it  down  its  capacious  mouth,  moisten- 
ing it  with  saliva  as  it  goes.  These  large  boas  and 
pythons  would,  in  fact,  probably  devastate  whole 
countries  if  it  were  not  that  when  they  are  young 
they  are  devoured  by  other  animals,  so  that  very  few 
live  to  grow  into  dangerous  marauders. 

Other  snakes  have  taken  a  still  more  terrible  way 
of  killing  their  prey.  There  may  be  some  chance  of 
escape  from  a  coiling  snake,  unless  he  already  holds 
you  with  his  teeth,  but  the  poisonous  Cobra*  may 
strike  before  you  know  that  you  have  startled  him,  and 
though  the  Rattlesnake  t  makes  a  sharp  noise  as  he 

*  Naja.  f  Crotalus. 


n8 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


shakes  the  loose  horny  plates  to  call  his  mate  or  to 
alarm  an  enemy,  yet  when  he  means  to  strike  his 
prey  it  is  too  late  when  the  sound  is  heard  to  get  out 
of  reach  of  his  fatal  fangs.  From  the  snake's  point  of 
view,  however,  it  is  clearly  an  advantage  to  be  able  with 
one  single  stroke  to  paralyse  its  prey,  so  that  it  has 
only  to  wait  for  the  poison  to  do  its  work,  and  then 

Fig.  29. 


The  Cobra  di  Capello.*— (From  Gosse.} 

The  mouth  being  closed,  the  poison  fangs  cannot  be  seen, 
tongue  is  perfectly  harmless. 


The 


its  meal  is  ready.  Even  our  little  viper  (see  p.  121), 
needs  only  to  strike  a  mouse  once,  and  then  draws 
back  as  the  poor  victim  springs  up  and  falls  and 
dies,  soon  to  be  packed  down  its  destroyer's  throat. 

Yet  this  terrible  poison,  which  acts  so  speedily,  is 
no  special  gift  to  the  snake.     It  has  only  lately  been 

*  Naja  tripudians. 


THE  COBRA  DI  CAPELLO.  119 

discovered  by  M.  Gautier  that  we,  and  probably  all 
animals,  have  in  our  saliva  some  of  the  very  poison 
with  which  the  cobra  kills  its  prey,  only  with  us  it 
is  extremely  diluted,  and  is  useful  in  digesting  our 
food.  The  cobra,  however,  has  the  poison,  which  no 
doubt  exists  in  the  slimy  saliva  of  all  snakes,  specially 
concentrated  and  collected  in  two  glands,  one  on 

Fig.  30. 


Jaw  of  a  Rattlesnake. 

ff.   Poison  fangs  ;  g,  gland  secreting  poison  ;  t,  canal  leading  from 
gland  to  base  of  fang  ;  /,  harmless  tongue  j  s,  saliva  glands. 

each  side  of  its  jaw.  From  each  of  these  glands  (g) 
a  small  canal  passes  under  the  eye  to  the  edge  of  the 
jaw  (c\  and  opens  immediately  above  a  large  curved 
fang  (/).  This  fang  is  fastened  to  a  bone  in  the  cheek 
which  moves  easily,  so  that  the  poison  teeth  can  be 
shut  back  and  lie  close  against  the  gum  when  they  are 
not  wanted,  and  when  they  are  wanted  can  be  brought 
quickly  down  again.  Though  the  fang  looks  round 
like  ordinary  teeth,  it  is  really  flattened  out  like  a 
knife-blade,  and  then  the  edges  are  curved  forwards 
so  as  to  form  a  groove  or,  in  some  snakes,  a  closed 
tube,  down  which  the  poison  can  run  to  the  point. 


120  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

Now  when  the  snake  wishes  to  strike  its  prey  it 
raises  its  head,  brings  down  the  fangs  and  drives 
them  into  the  creature's  flesh,  and  at  the  same  time 
certain  muscles  press  upon  the  poison  gland,  so  that 
the  liquid  poison  is  forced  into  the  wounds.  If,  how- 
ever, the  fang  was  fixed  to  the  canal,  the  snake's 
weapon  would  be  gone  if  the  point  were  broken,  so 
we  find  that  the  canal-opening  lies  just  above  the 
tube  of  the  tooth,  and  behind  are  six  small  reserve 
teeth,  covered  by  a  tender  sheath  skin,  ready  to  grow 
up  and  take  its  place  when  wanted. 

Should  we  not  think  that  with  such  weapons  as 
these  the  poisonous  snakes  would  conquer  every 
enemy  ?  Yet  they,  too,  only  have  their  fair  chance 
of  life,  for  besides  the  destruction  of  their  eggs  other 
dangers  await  them.  The  rapacious  birds,  with  their 
feathery  covering,  their  horny  and  scale-covered  legs 
and  feet,  and  their  hard  beaks,  v/ill  offer  battle  even 
to  a  poisonous  snake.  The  buzzard  makes  short 
work  of  our  common  viper  or  adder,  whose  fangs, 
though  fatal  to  small  animals,  are  not  nearly  so 
powerful  as  those  of  snakes  of  hot  countries.  Seizing 
the  viper  with  his  claws  in  the  middle  of  its  body, 
the  buzzard  takes  no  notice  of  its  frantic  struggles 
as,  winding  itself  about  his  feet,  and  striking  wildly  at 
his  breast,  his  wings,  and  his  scaly  legs,  it 

" .     .     .     .     doth  ever  seek 
Upon  its  enemy's  heart  a  mortal  wound  to  wreak." 

Keeping  his  own  head  well  back  out  of  danger,  the 
bird  lets  the  snake  exhaust  itself,  waiting  only  till  he 
can  give  a  fatal  blow  with  his  beak  upon  its  upraised 
head,  and  then,  soon  despatching  it,  tears  it  to  pieces 
for  a  meal.  Nor  is  even  the  dreaded  Cobra  safe  from 


ENEMIES  OF  SNAKES. 


121 


danger,  for  he  finds  his  match  in  the  powerful  Adjutant 
birds  (see  p.  128),  and  in  the  Indian  Ichneumon  or 
Mungoos,  which  attacks  the  snake  boldly,  skilfully 
dodging  the  fatal  stroke  until  it  has  broken  the  neck 
of  its  enemy  ;  while  in  Africa  the  bold  Secretary  bird 
is  complete  master  of  the  dreaded  poisonous  snakes 


\ 


Common  English  viper  (Pelias  bertis),  with  poison-fangs  showing 
in  the  open  mouth,  and  the  soft  harmless  tongue  outstretched  to  feel. 

of  that  country.  In  fact,  there  is  little  doubt  that 
every  kind  of  snake,  either  in  youth  or  age,  falls  a 
victim  to  some  kind  of  bird  or  beast ;  and  even  the 
poisonous  sea-snakes,  which  swarm  in  the  tropical 
seas,  probably  find  their  masters  in  the  pugnacious 
saw-fish  and  the  thick-skinned  shark. 

We  see,  then,  that  it  is  not  without  some  struggle 
that  these  cold-blooded  reptiles  have  held  their  own 


122  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

in  the  world,  nor  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  only 
these  four  types — tortoises,  lizards,  crocodiles,  and 
snakes — should  have  managed  to  find  room  to  live 
among  the  myriads  of  warm-blooded  animals  which 
have  filled  the  earth.  These  four  groups  have  made 
a  good  fight  of  it,  and  many  of  them  even  make  use 
of  warm-blooded  animals  as  food.  The  tortoises, 
it  is  true,  feed  upon  plants,  except  those  that  live 
in  the  fresh  water,  and  feed  chiefly  on  fish,  snakes, 
and  frogs,  while  most  of  the  lizards  are  insect-feeders. 
But  the  crocodile,  as  he  lurks  near  the  river's  edge, 
and  the  snake,  when  he  fastens  his  glittering  eye  on 
a  mouse  or  bird,  are  both  on  the  look-out  for  animals 
higher  in  the  world  than  themselves. 

It  is,  perhaps,  natural  that  we  should  shrink  from 
cold-blooded  creatures,  especially  as  they  seem  to 
show  very  little  affection.  Yet  lizards,  tortoises,  and 
snakes  can  all  be  made  to  know  and  care  for  those 
who  are  kind  to  them  ;  while,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
fierce  crocodile  watches  over  and  feeds  her  young, 
and  the  python  coils  herself  over  her  eggs,  and  will 
take  no  food  till  they  are  hatched.  Moreover,  we 
can  scarcely  look  at  the  quaint  shell-covered  tortoise, 
or  examine  the  heavily-mailed  coat  of  the  alligator, 
or  the  poison-fangs  of  the  snake,  without  admiring 
the  curious  devices  by  which  these  animals  have 
managed  to  survive  in  a  world  which  once  belonged 
to  their  ancestors,  before  our  present  swarm  of  warm- 
blooded animals  multiplied  and  took  possession  of 
their  kingdom. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  FEATHERED  CONQUERORS  OF  THE  AIR. 

PART  I. — THEIR  WANDERINGS  OVER  SEA  AND  MARSH,  DESERT 
AND  PLAIN. 

IT  is  a  warm  sunny  day  in  early  spring,  one  of 
those  few  bright  days  which  sometimes  burst  upon 
us  in  April,  just  after  the  swallows  have  come  back 
to  us,  searching  out  their  old  nooks  under  the  eaves, 
or  their  old  corners  in  the  chimneys,  to  build  their 


124  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

new  nests.  There  they  are,  clinging  with  their  sharp 
claws  to  the  edge  of  the  cottage  thatch,  while  the 
impudent  little  sparrow,  which  has  remained  hopping 
about  all  the  winter  long,  chirrups  at  them  from  a 
neighbouring  apple-tree.  Upon  the  grass-plot  near 
a  blackbird  is  pecking  at  a  worm,  and  from  the 
wood  beyond  a  thrush  trills  out  his  clear  and  mellow 
song,  accompanied  from  time  to  time  by  the  distant 
cry  of  the  cuckoo  calling  to  his  mate.  For  it  is  the 
love-time  of  the  birds  ;  and  as  we  watch  them  flying 
merrily  hither  and  thither  in  the  bright  sunshine,  we 
ask  ourselves  whether  we- must  not  have  made  a 
great  leap  on  leaving  the  cold-blooded  snakes  and 
tortoises,  since  now  we  find  ourselves  among  such 
merry,  warm-hearted,  passionate  little  beings,  with 
their  beautiful  feathery  plumage,  their  light  rapid 
flight,  their  love  for  each  other,  their  skill  in  nest- 
building,  and  their  patient  care  for  their  little  ones. 

And,  indeed,  we  have  come  into  quite  a  new  life, 
for  now  we  are  going  to  wander  among  the  con- 
querors of  the  air,  who  have  learned  to  rise  far  beyond 
our  solid  ground,  and  to  soar,  like  the  lark,  into  the 
clouds,  or,  like  the  eagle,  to  sail  over  the  topmost  crags 
of  the  mountains,  there  to  build  his  solitary  eyrie. 

Even  the  little  sparrow,  which  flits  about  by  the 
roadside,  can  laugh  at  us  with  his  impudent  little 
chirp,  as  he  flies  up  out  of  reach  to  the  topmost 
branch  of  a  tree.  And  yet  a  glance  at  his  skeleton 
will  show  us  that  he  has  the  same  framework  as  a 
reptile,  only  it  is  altered  to  suit  his  mode  of  life. 

True,  his  breastbone  (by  Fig.  33)  is  deep  and  thin 
instead  of  flat,  and  those  joints  of  his  backbone  which 
lie  between  his  neck  and  tail  are  soldered  firmly  to- 


STRUCTURE  OF  THE  SPARROW. 


125 


gether,  more  like  those  of  the  tortoise,  and  he  stands 
only  upon  two  feet.  Yet  this  last  difference  is  merely 
apparent,  for  if  you  look  at  the  bones  of  his  wings 

Fig.  32. 


The  Sparrow. 
With  wings  raised,  as  in  the  skeleton  on  next  page. 

you  will  find  that  they  are,  bone  for  bone,  the  same 
as  those  in  the  front  legs  of  a  lizard,  only  they  have 


126 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


been  drawn   backwards  and  upwards  so  as  to  work 
in  the  air. 

There  is  the  upper  arm  (a)  answering  to  the  same 
part  of  the  lizard's  front  limb  (p.  103)  ;  there  is  the 


33- 


Skeleton  of  a  Sparrow  (from  a  specimen). 

q,  Quadrate  bone,  peculiar  to  reptiles  and  birds  and  some  amphibia  • 
6,  breastbone  ;  m,  merrythought  or  collar  bone  ;  cy  coracoid  bone,  over 
which  the  tendon  works  to  pull  up  the  wing  ;  /,  ploughshare  bone,  on 
which  the  tail  grows. 

Wing  bones— a,  upper  arm  ;  e,  elbow  ;  fa,  fore  arm  ;  iv,  wrist ;  /, 
thumb ;  ha,  hand. 

Leg  bones — th,  thigh  bone  ;  k,  knee  ;  /,  lower  part  of  leg  ;  h,  heel ; 
/  foot. 

elbow  (e)  ;   then  the  two  bones  of  the  fore-arm  (fa)  ; 
then  the  wrist  (w\  and  a  long  hand  (/£),  which  has 


STRUCTURE  OF  A  BIRD'S  WING.  127 

lost  almost  all  trace  of  separate  fingers,  except  the 
little  thumb  (/),  which  carries  some  feathers  of  its 
own,  known  as  the  "  bastard  "  wing.  Now  when  the 
sparrow  is  resting  he  draws  back  his  elbow,  folds  his 
wrist  joint,  and  brings  the  whole  wing  flat  to  his  body. 
But  when  he  wishes  to  fly  he  stretches  his  arms  out 
and  beats  the  air  with  them,  and  as  his  hand  moves 
over  most  space,  it  is  there  that  you  will  find  the 
longest  quill  feathers,  which  stretch  right  to  the  tip 
of  his  wing  ;  then  next  to  these  follow  the  feathers  of 
his  fore-arm,  while  those  of  the  upper  arm  are  short 
and  close  to  his  body,  and  over  all  these  are  the 
rows  of  covering  feathers,  which  make  the  whole 
wing  thick  and  compact. 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  lizard's  front  legs  turned 
into  a  wonderful  flying  machine  in  the  bird,  and  this 
in  quite  a  different  way  from  the  flying  lizards  which 
lived  long  ago,  and  which  had  only  a  piece  of  mem- 
brane to  flit  with,  like  bats.  And  now  what  has 
happened  to  the  hind  legs,  the  only  ones  used  as  legs 
by  the  birds  ?  Look  at  the  sparrow  as  he  clasps  the 
bough  with  his  toes,  and  you  will,  perhaps,  be  puzzled 
why  the  first  joint  of  his  leg  turns  back  like  an 
elbow  and  not  forward  like  a  knee.  Ah !  but  that 
joint  is  his  ankle,  and  the  knob  behind  is  his  heel 
(^),  for  the  bones  of  his  foot  have  grown  long  and 
leg-like  ;  and  he  always  stands  upon  his  toes,  the 
rest  of  his  foot  forming  a  firm  support  to  hold  his 
body  up  in  the  air.  Look  at  the  skeleton  and  you 
will  find  his  true  knee  (K)  up  above  ;  and  if  you  go 
to  the  Zoological  Gardens  and  watch  the  Adjutant 
birds,  you  will  often  find  them  resting  their  whole 
foot  upon  the  ground  (see  Fig.  34),  and  comical  as 
7 


128 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


it  looks,  it  will  help  to  explain  the  curious  foot  and 
leg  of  a  bird. 

Already,  then,  we  see  that  the  bird   is  using  the 
same  bones  as  a  reptile,  though  he  uses  them  in  a  dif- 

Fig.  34- 


The  Adjutant  Bud. 
Showing  the  foot  resting  from  heel  to  toe  upon  the  ground. 

ferent  way  ;  and  besides  these  resemblances  between 
the  skeletons  of  birds  and  reptiles  there  are  two  special 
ones  easy  enough  for  us  to  understand.  We  saw  in 


REPTILES  AND  BIRDS.  129 

the  snakes  and  the  lizards  that  they  have  a  separate 
bone  (9,  Figs.  23  and  26)  joining  the  lower  jaw  on  to 
the  head  ;  now  you  will  find  this  same  bone  in  the 
sparrow  and  in  all  birds  (see  Fig.  33),  but  in  quadru- 
peds this  bone  is  not  to  be  found,  the  part  represent- 
ing it  being  changed  into  one  of  the  bones  of  the  ear. 
Again,  the  sparrow's  skull  is  joined  to  his  backbone 
by  a  single  half- moon -shaped  knob,  which  fits  into 
a  groove  in  the  first  joint  or  vertebra.  This  also  we 
find  in  reptiles,  while  all  higher  animals  have  two 
such  knobs,  so  that  although  they  can  nod  the  head 
upon  these,  they  cannot  turn  it  upon  them,  and 
consequently  the  first  joint  turns  with  the  skull  upon 
the  second  vertebra. 

These,  then,  are  some  of  the  reasons  why  Pro- 
fessor Huxley  tells  us  that  though  frogs  and  reptiles 
look  in  many  ways  so  like  each  other,  yet  in  truth 
the  frogs  must  be  grouped  with  the  gill -breathing 
and  fish-like  animals;*  while  the  cold-blooded  reptiles, 
when  we  come  to  look  closely  into  them,  are 
linked  with  such  different  looking  creatures  as  the 
bright  and  merry  birds.!  But  we  have  also  another 
and  stronger  reason  for  thinking  that  reptiles  and 
birds  are  distant  connections  ;  for  in  those  far 
bygone  times  (see  p.  92),  when  the  huge  land-lizards 
browsed  upon  the  trees,  the  birds  living  among  them 
were  much  more  like  them  in  many  ways  than  they 
are  now.  From  their  skeletons  and  feathers  which 
we  find,  we  know  that  the  strange  land  birds  %  which 
then  perched  on  the  trees  had  not  a  fan-shaped  tail 
made  of  feathers,  growing  on  one  broad  bone  as  our 

*  Ichthyopsida — ichthys,  fish  ;  opsis,  appearance, 
•f  Sauropsida — sauros,  lizai'd  ;  opsis,  appearance. 
%  Archoeopteryx,  see  picture-heading,  Chapter  VII. 


130  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

birds  have  now  (/,  Fig.  3  3),  but  they  had  a  long  tail 
of  many  joints  like  lizards,  only  that  each  joint  carried 
a  pair  of  feathers,  and  like  lizards  too  they  had  teeth 
in  their  jaws,  which  no  living  bird  has.  They  must 
have  been  poor  flyers  at  best,  these  earliest  known 
birds,  for  their  wings  were  small  and  the  ringers  of 
their  hand  were  separate  more  like  lizard's  toes,  two 
of  them  at  least  having  claws  upon  them,  while  their 
long  hanging  tail  must  have  been  very  awkward  com- 
pared to  the  fan -shaped  tail  they  now  wear.  For 
some  time  they  were  the  only  birds  we  know  of,  but 
later  on  we  come  upon  the  bones  of  water-birds*  tell- 
ing the  same  story.  For  some  about  the  size  of  small 
gulls, f  though  they  flew  with  strong  wings  and  had 
fan -shaped  tails,  still  had  teeth  in  their  horny  jaws, 
set  in  sockets  like  those  of  the  crocodile,  while  their 
backbones  had  joints  like  those  of  fishes  rather  than 
birds  ;  and  with  them  were  other  and  wingless  birds  J 
rather  larger  than  our  swans,  but  more  like  swimming 
fish-eating  ostriches,  for  their  breastbones  were  flat, 
not  thin  and  sharp  like  the  sparrow's,  and  they  had 
scarcely  any  wings,  short  tails,  long  slender  necks, 
and  jaws  full  of  teeth,  this  time  set  in  grooves  like 
those  of  lizards  and  snakes. 

In  these  and  many  other  points  the  early  birds 
came  very  near  to  the  reptiles — not  to  the  flying  ones, 
but  to  those  which  walked  on  the  land.  And  now, 
perhaps,  you  will  ask,  did  reptiles  then  turn  into 
birds  ?  No,  since  they  were  both  living  at  the  same 
time,  and  those  reptiles  which  flew  did  so  like  bats, 
and  not  in  any  way  like  the  birds  which  were  their 

*  See  picture-heading  of  this  chapter.  f  Ichthyornis,  fish-bird. 

J  Hesperornis. 


REPTILES  AND  BIRDS.  131 

companions.  To  explain  the  facts  we  must  go  much 
farther  back  than  this.  If  any  one  were  to  ask  us 
whether  the  Australian  colonists  came  from  the  white 
Americans  or  the  Americans  from  the  Australians, 
we  should  answer,  "  neither  the  one  nor  the  other, 
and  yet  they  are  related,  for  both  have  sprung  from 
the  English  race."  In  the  same  way,  when  we  see 
how  like  the  ancient  birds  and  reptiles  were  to  each 
other,  so  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  say  which  were 
bird -like  reptiles  and  which  were  reptile -like  birds, 
we  can  only  conclude  that  they,  too,  once  branched  off 
from  some  older  race  which  had  that  bone  between 
the  jaws,  that  single  neck  joint,  and  the  other  char- 
acters which  birds  and  reptiles  have  in  common. 

But  long  ago  they  must  have  gone  off  each  on 
their  own  road,  the  reptiles  filling  the  world  for  a  time, 
flying  and  walking  and  swimming,  till  they  found  at 
last  that  creeping  was  their  most  successful  way  of 
life ;  the  birds  on  the  other  hand  becoming  more 
and  more  masters  of  the  air  and  the  water,  so  that, 
while  keeping  the  same  bones  and  parts  as  the  rep- 
tiles, they  have  grown  into  quite  different  beings  in 
their  form  and  habits,  giving  up  the  long-jointed  tail 
of  the  ArchceopteryX)  or  ancient-winged  bird,  for  the 
compact  feathered  fan  which  helps  to  balance  them 
in  their  flight,  and  the  teeth  of  the  water-birds  for 
the  sharp  and  horny  beak,  which,  together  with  their 
claws,  is  their  chief  weapon  of  attack  and  defence  now 
that  they  have  employed  their  front  limbs  as  wings. 

Nor  shall  we  have  far  to  look  for  the  secret  of 
their  success  in  life.  Just  as  the  reptiles  have  an 
advantage  over  the  naked  frogs  and  newts  by  having 
strong  scaly  coverings  in  their  skin,  so  the  birds 


132  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

have  an  advantage  over  the  reptiles  in  that  beautiful 
feathery  plumage  which  covers  their  body,  and  the 
powerful  muscles  which  \vork  their  limbs.  For  it  is 
by  means  of  these  that  they  have  been  able  to  move 
quickly  and  travel  far,  and  to  develop  that  bright 
nervous  intelligence  which  has  grown  more  and  more 
active  as  they  have  been  carried  into  fresh  scenes 
and  experiences,  overcoming  new  difficulties  and 
enjoying  new  pleasures. 

Remember  for  a  moment  how  weak  the  lizard's 
limbs  are,  so  that  his  body  always  drags  upon  the 
ground  ;  and  then  look  at  the  bird's  tight  grasp  of 
the  bough  and  the  rod-like  legs  which  raise  his 
body  above  it.  Watch  him  as  he  beats  the  air  with 
his  wings,  rising  and  sinking,  turning  and  swerving 
at  will,  and  you  will  see  that  he  has  earned  freedom, 
strength,  and  active  life,  by  means  of  the  strong 
muscles  which  move  these  legs  and  wings,  and  the 
feathers  which  provide  him  with  an  instrument  for 
beating  the  air.  Feel  a  sparrow's  fat  little  breast, 
or  see  how  much  meat  comes  off  the  wing  and  breast 
of  a  pigeon,  and  then,  if  you  consider  that  all  this 
flesh  is  muscle  used  for  moving  his  wings,  you  will 
not  wonder  at  his  easy  flight.  For  the  muscles  of  a 
bird's  breast  often  weigh  more  than  all  his  other 
muscles  put  together,  and  while  one  enormous  mass 
of  muscle  in  front  of  the  breast  works  to  pull  down 
the  wing,  another  smaller  one,  ending  in  a  cord  or 
tendon,  passing  like  a  pulley  over  the  top  of  a  bone 
(c,  Fig.  33,  p.  126),  pulls  it  up,  so  that  by  using 
these,  one  after  the  other,  the  bird  flies. 

But  where  have  the  feathers  come  from, — those 
wonderful  beautiful    appendages,  without    which   he 


GRO  WTH  OF  FEA  THERS.  1 33 

could  not  fly  ?  They  are  growths  of  the  bird's  skin, 
of  the  same  nature  as  the  scales  of  reptiles,  or  those 
on  the  bird's  own  feet  and  legs  ;  and  on  some  low 
birds  such  as  the  penguins  they  are  so  stiff  and 
scale-like  that  it  is  often  difficult  to  say  where  the 
scales  end  and  the  feathers  begin.  All  feathers, 
even  the  most  delicate,  are  made  of  horny  matter, 
though  it  splits  up  into  so  many  shreds  as  it  grows 
that  they  look  like  the  finest  hair,  and  Dr.  Gadow  has 
reckoned  that  there  must  be  fifty-four  million  branches 
and  threads  upon  one  good-sized  eagle's  feather. 

When  these  feathers  first  begin  to  grow  they  are 
like  little  grooved  pimples  upon  the  flesh,  then  soon 
these  pimples  sink  in  till  a  kind  of  cup  is  formed  all 
round  them,  and  into  this  cup  the  soft  layer  just  under 
the  outer  skin  sends  out  fibres,  which  afterwards  form 
the  pith.  Round  these  fibres  rings  of  horny  matter 
form,  and  then  within  these  rings,  in  the  grooves  of 
the  soft  pimple,  the  true  feather  is  fashioned.  First 
the  tips  of  the  feathery  barbs,  then  the  shaft,  and  then 
the  quill  appear,  as  the  feather  grows  from  below,  fed 
by  an  artery  running  up  into  the  pimple  ;  till  at  last, 
when  the  whole  is  full-grown,  the  quill  is  drawn  in 
at  the  base,  and  rests  in  its  socket,  complete. 

Some  of  these  feathers  are  weak  and  soft,  with 
slender  shafts  and  loose  threads  growing  all  round 
them,  and  these  are  the  downy  feathers  which  lie 
close  to  the  body  and  keep  the  bird  warm.  Others, 
which  cover  the  outside  and  form  the  wings  and  tail 
are  flat,  with  strong  quills  and  shafts,  and  a  double 
set  of  barbs  growing  upon  each  shaft ;  and  if  you 
look  at  these  wing  feathers  under  a  strong  microscope 
you  will  see  that  they  have  a  special  arrangement 


134  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

for  helping  them  to  resist  the  air.  For  not  only 
have  all  the  little  featherlets  or  barbs  rows  of  other 
featherlets  or  barbules  growing  upon  them,  but  these 
again  are  covered  with  fine  horny  threads,  often 
hooked  at  the  tip,  which  cling  to  the  next  barb,  so 
that  the  feather  is  woven  together  as  it  were,  in  a 
close  web,  and  if  you  strike  it  against  the  air  you 
will  find  that  it  resists  it  strongly. 

Now  in  a  bird's  wing  the  feathers  are  so  arranged 
that  they  lap  one  under  the  other  from  the  outside  of 
the  wing  to  the  body,  so  that  when  the  bird  strikes 
downwards  they  are  firmly  pressed  together,  and  the 
whole  wing,  which  is  hollow  like  the  bowl  of  a  spoon, 
encloses  a  wingful  of  air,  and  as  this  is  forced  out 
behind,  where  the  tips  of  the  feathers  are  yielding  and 
elastic,  he  is  driven  upwards  and  forwards.  When, 
however,  he  lifts  his  wing  again,  the  feathers  turn 
edgeways  and  are  separated,  so  that  the  air  passes 
through  them,  and  he  still  rises  while  preparing  for 
the  next  stroke.  All  this  goes  on  so  rapidly  that 
even  the  heron  makes  300  strokes  in  a  minute,  and 
the  wild  duck  500,  while  in  most  birds  they  are  so 
rapid  that  it  is  impossible  to  count  them  ;  yet  all 
the  while  the  little  creature  can  direct  his  flight 
where  he  will,  can  pause  and  direct  his  wings  to 
the  breeze  so  as  to  soar,  can  swoop  or  hover, 
wheel  or  strike,  guiding  himself  by  the  outspread 
tail  and  a  thousand  delicate  turns  of  the  wing. 

All  this  complicated  machinery,  however,  would 
not  have  served  the  bird  much  if  his  body  had  been 
as  heavy,  and  his  blood  as  cold,  as  those  of  the  lizard 
and  the  crocodile.  But  here  he  has  made  a  great 
step  forward.  In  the  first  place,  he  has  a  heart  with 


BIRDS  WARM-BLOODED  ANIMALS.          135 

four  chambers,  two  on  the  right  side  and  two  on  the 
left ;  and  while  one  of  those  on  the  right  side  receives 
the  worn-out  blood  from  the  body  and  pumps  it  to 
the  lungs  to  be  refreshed,  one  of  those  on  the  left 
side  receives  it  from  the  lungs  when  it  is  refreshed, 
and  the  other  pumps  it  into  the  arteries  to  feed  the 
body.  So  here  we  see  for  the  first  time  among  our 
backboned  animals  a  creature  whose  good  and  bad 
blood  are  never  mixed  in  the  heart  (compare  pp.  23 
and  76),  but  it  gets  all  the  benefit  possible  from 
its  breathing,  and  the  blood  is  kept  fresh  and  pure. 

Moreover,  a  bird's  lungs  are  large,  and  are  con- 
tinued into  several  large  air-sacs,  which  in  their  turn 
open  out  into  tubes  which  carry  air  actually  into  the 
boneS)  many  of  which  are  hollow  instead  of  contain- 
ing marrow  like  those  of  other  animals.* 

And  now  we  begin  to  see  how  wonderfully  these 
little  creatures  are  fitted  for  flying.  With  all  this 
air  within  them,  not  only  is  their  blood  kept  hot  by 
constant  purifying,  but  their  bodies  are  much  lighter 
than  if  their  bones  were  solid,  and  they  can  present  a 
much  broader  surface  to  float  upon  the  air  without  in- 
creasing equally  in  weight.  Meanwhile,  their  feathery 
covering  prevents  the  cold  air  around  from  chilling 
them,  so  that  they  are  not  only  warm-blooded  animals, 
but  actually  warmer-blooded  even  than  ourselves. 

Thus,  then,  Life  has  spread  her  feathered  favourites 
over  the  world.  For  them  there  are  no  limits  except 
the  extreme  depths  of  the  water  below,  and  the 

*  Some  chamseleons  and  geckos  also  have  air-tubes  passing  from  the 
lungs  into  the  body,  and  the  crocodile's  skull  is  full  of  air-cells ;  but  the 
two  phenomena  are  not  connected  as  in  birds,  and  other  parts  of  the 
skeleton  or  of  the  skin-covering,  being  heavy,  have  a  counteracting 
effect. 


136  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

height  beyond  the  atmosphere  above.  Wherever 
air-breathing  creatures  can  go,  there  some  bird  may 
be  found.  On  the  dizzy  ledges  of  inaccessible  cliffs, 
on  the  wide  boscm  of  the  open  ocean,  on  the  sandy 
wastes  of  the  desert,  in  the  tops  of  the  highest  trees, 
on  the  cloud-capped  peaks  of  the  mountains,  diving 
or  swimming,  flying  or  soaring,  running,  perching, 
darting,  or  sailing  for  miles  and  miles  without  one 
moment's  rest,  they  find  their  way  everywhere,  and 
there  is  no  spot  from  the  icebound  countries  of  the 
Arctic  zone  to  the  warm  bright  forests  of  the  tropics 
where  they  do  not  penetrate  ;  while  their  sharp  eyes, 
kept  free  from  dust  and  harm  by  a  third  eyelid 
moving  rapidly  sideways,*  see  far  into  the  distance, 
and  thus  as  they  soar  into  the  sky  they  have  a 
power,  possessed  by  no  other  animals,  of  overlooking 
a  wide  domain.  Nor  have  they  been  obliged,  like  the 
reptiles,  to  take  up  strangely  different  forms  to  suit 
their  various  habits,  for  so  wonderfully  does  their  body 
meet  all  their  wants  that  very  slight  changes,  such  as  a 
broad  body  and  webbed  feet  for  the  swimmers,  long 
bare  legs  for  the  waders,  a  long  hind  toe  for  grasping 
in  the  perchers,  and  sharp  claws  and  beak  for  the 
birds  of  prey,  fit  each  one  for  his  work,  and  are  some 
of  the  chief  distinctions  we  can  find  between  them. 

Even  the  heavy  running  birds,  the  Ostriches  of 
Africa,  the  Rheas  of  South  America,  and  the  Emus  and 
Cassowaries  of  Australia,  still  remain  truly  bird-like, 
though  their  wings  are  unfit  for  flight.  True,  their 
breastbones  are  flat  instead  of  keel -shaped,  for  they 
have  no  need  of  strong  muscles  to  move  their  wings, 

*  This  third  eyelid  is  a  fold  on  the  inner  side  of  the  eye  ;  some 
reptiles  and  amphibians  have  it,  and  so  have  the  marsupials  and  many 
of  the  higher  animals. 


THE  RUNNING  OSTRICH.  137 

which  now  serve  only  as  sails  to  catch  the  wind  as 
they  run,  and  in  many  other  ways  they  are  an  older 
type  than  our  flying  birds  ;  but  their  wing  bones  are 
formed  as  if  they  were  used  for  flying,  and  their 


The  Ostrich  *  at  full  speed. 

feathers,  though  loose  and  downy  because  they  havs 
no  little  hooklets,  are  like  those  of  other  birds. 

Strong  powerful  creatures  they  are,  even  in  con- 
finement. Yet  how  little  can  we  picture  to  ourselves, 
when  we  see  the  Ostrich  trotting  round  his  paddock 
in  the  Zoological  Gardens,  with  his  wings  outspread, 
what  he  is  when  he  courses  over  the  free  desert ! — 

"  Where  the  zebra  wantonly  tosses  his  mane, 
With  wild  hoof  scorning  the  desolate  plain  ; 
And  the  fleet-footed  ostrich  over  the  waste 
Speeds  like  a  horseman  who  travels  in  haste." 

*  Struthio  camelus. 


138  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

There  the  soft  pads  under  the  two  toes  of  each  foot 
rebound  from  the  yielding  sand  as  his  well-bent  legs 
straighten  with  a  jerk  one  after  the  other,  making 
his  body  bound  forward  at  full  speed.  Then  he 
raises  his  wings,  sometimes  on  one  side,  sometimes 
on  both,  to  balance  himself,  and  to  serve  as  sails  to 
help  him  ;  and  with  this  help  his  stride  is  sometimes 
as  great  as  twenty  feet,  and  he  dashes  along  at  the 
rate  of  twenty-six  miles  an  hour.  He  is  not  so  heavy 
as  he  looks,  for  many  of  his  bones  are  hollow,  his 
feathers  are  downy  and  soft,  and  his  wing-bones  are 
small  ;  and  it  is  to  his  featherless  thighs  that  you 
must  look  for  the  strong  muscles  to  which  he  trusts 
for  all  his  speed,  as  with  outstretched  neck  he  bounds 
across  the  plain. 

If  we  go  back  to  long  bygone  times,  before  the 
lion,  the  leopard,  and  other  ferocious  animals  found 
their  way  into  Africa,  we  can  imagine  how  this  great 
running  bird  took  possession  of  the  land  and  became 
too  heavy  for  flight ;  while  as  time  rolled  on,  he 
gained  that  strength  of  body  and  leg  which  now  is 
his  great  protection  as  he  dashes  along,  his  four  or 
five  wives  following  in  his  train.  The  ostriches  can 
travel  over  wide  distances  from  one  oasis  to  another, 
feeding  on  seeds  and  fruit,  beetles,  locusts,  and  small 
animals,  and  fighting  fiercely  with  legs  and  beak  if 
attacked.  And  when  the  springtime  comes  the 
wives  lay  their  eggs  in  a  hole  scooped  in  the  sand, 
or  often  in  some  dry  patch  of  ground  surrounded  by 
high  grass,  till  sixteen  or  twenty  are  ready  ;  and  then 
they  take  their  turn  (the  father  among  the  rest)  of 
sitting  upon  them,  at  least  at  night,  even  if  they 
leave  them  to  the  heat  of  the  sun  by  day.  And 


RHEAS  AND  CASSOWARIES.  139 

when  six  weeks  have  passed  the  father  grows  im- 
patient, and,  pressing  the  large  bare  pad  in  front  of 
his  chest  against  each  egg  in  turn,  breaks  it,  pulls 
out  the  membranous  bag  with  the  young  bird  in  it, 
shakes  him  out,  and,  swallowing  the  bag,  goes  on  to 
another.  In  this  way  the  whole  downy  brood  are 
soon  set  free,  and  begin  picking  up  small  stones  to 
prepare  their  gizzard  or  muscular  second  stomach  for 
grinding,  while  their  parents  scrape  the  sand  and 
find  and  break  up  food  for  them. 

So  the  ostrich  lives  its  life  in  Africa,  from  Algeria 
right  down  to  Cape  Colony  ;  while  its  smaller  and 
lighter  -  coloured  relations,  the  Rheas,  with  their 
three -toed  feet,  course  over  the  plains  of  Paraguay 
and  Brazil,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  often 
swimming  from  island  to  island,  in  the  bays  or 
across  the  rivers,  but  quite  unable  to  fly  with  their 
soft  hair-like  feathers,  though  their  wings  are  larger 
than  those  of  the  ostrich.  Then  when  we  turn  to 
the  East  we  find  other  running  birds  ;  the  Cassowary, 
with  its  three  toes,  its  horny  helmet,  its  five  long 
single  feathers,  and  its  five  naked  pointed  quills  in 
the  place  of  a  wing,  feeding  on  fruit  and  vegetables 
in  New  Guinea,  or  sharing  the  dreary  scrubs  of 
Australia  with  the  almost  wingless  Emus  wandering 
in  pairs,  the  only  constant  married  couples  among 
the  running  birds. 

Nor  is  New  Zealand  left  without  a  representative 
of  this  family,  for  there  we  have  the  curious  little 
Apteryx  or  Kiwi  (Fig.  36),  with  its  thick  stumpy  legs, 
its  long  beak,  and  its  soft  downy  body,  under  which 
are  hidden  its  aborted  wings.  Perhaps  it  is  because  he 
is  small  and  insignificant  that  the  apteryx  has  lived  on 


I4o 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


Fig-  36. 


till  now,  crouching  under  the  bushes  by  day  and  creep- 
ing about  in  the  twilight,  thrusting  his  long  nose-tipped 
beak  into  the  damp  ground  to  draw  out  the  worms. 
For  long  ago,  though  in  the  memory  of  man,  as 

we  learn  from  the 
traditions  of  the 
Maories,  other  wing- 
less birds  called 
Moas,*  which  were 
six  or  seven  feet 
high,  lived  in  New 
Zealand,  and  had 
fierce  fights  with 
the  natives.  We 
find  their  bones 
now,  often  charred 
from  having  been 
cooked  in  the  native 
ovens,  and  when 
they  are  put  to- 
gether they  give 
us  skeletons  which 
show  that  these 
birds  must  have 
been  as  formidable 
as  that  great  bird 
of  Madagascar,  the  ^Epyornis,  whose  gigantic  bones 
and  eggs,  three  times  the  size  of  ostrich  eggs,  have  been 
found,  though  the  bird  itself  has  never  been  seen. 

But  these  are  gone  now,  and  their  relations  the 
Emus  are  fast  following  them  ;  for  however  well  these 


Wingless  birds  of  New  Zealand. 
The  giant  Moa  (Palapteryx)  and  the  tiny 
Apteiyx.    The  Moa  is  no  longer  to  be  found 
alive. 


*  Dinornidse,  of  which  Dinornis,  a  still  more  ancient  form,  must 
have  been  ten  feet  high. 


WATER-BIRDS.  141 

flightless  birds  may  flourish  on  the  broad  plains  and 
deserts,  where  only  their  wild  companions  are  around 
them,  they  are  sadly  at  the  mercy  of  man.  The 
proud  eagle  can  fly  far  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
hunter's  gun  ;  the  little  lark,  if  she  be  only  wary 
enough,  may  trill  out  her  song  in  the  blue  vault 
above  and  leave  the  cruel  destroyer  far  below  ;  but 
the  emu  and  the  cassowary,  the  rhea  and  the  ostrich, 
have  lost  the  power  to  leave  the  earth  ;  and  if  it 
were  not  that  we  prize  the  two  last  for  their  feathers, 
they,  too,  like  their  companions,  might  live  to  rue  the 
day  when  they  became  runners  instead  of  conquerors 
of  the  air. 

It  is  very  different,  however,  with  the  water-birds, 
for  they  have  not  only  kept  the  power  of  flight,  but 
have  gained  the  double  advantage  of  also  floating 
safely  on  the  water.  Look  at  our  common  wild 
duck.  We  might  have  taken  him  just  as  well  as  the 
sparrow  for  our  type  of  a  bird,  and  yet  while  the 
sparrow  leads  a  land  life  in  the  trees,  the  duck's 
home  is  on  the  water,  and  many  of  his  relations  live 
cradled  on  the  open  ocean. 

See  his  broad  boat-like  body  which  floats  without 
any  effort  of  his  ;  notice  how  closely  it  is  covered 
with  short  thickly -grown  feathers,  which  protect 
him  from  the  chilly  water,  while  he  keeps  them 
well-oiled  with  his  beak,  from  an  oil-gland  which 
all  flying  birds  have  at  the  base  of  the  tail.  Watch 
how  he  swims,  drawing  his  webbed  foot  together  as 
he  brings  it  forward,  and  spreading  it  like  a  fan 
to  strike  the  water  as  he  drives  it  back.  Then,  as 
he  feeds,  watch  him  gobbling  in  the  mud  and  then 


142  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

shaking  his  head  as  he  throws  his  beak  up  in  the  air. 
For  he,  like  all  ducks  and  geese,  has  a  set  of  thin 
horny  plates  inside  his  broad  bill,  and  they  sift  the 
mud,  while  the  tender  tooth -like  edges  of  his  beak 
and  tongue  feel  out  the  suitable  morsels. 

All  this  time  he  is  a  water  animal,  but  when  he 
rises  and  flies  he  is  also  master  of  the  air,  for  his 
strong  wings  carry  him  stoutly,  so  that  he  can  migrate 
from  one  pool  to  another  ;  or  in  winter,  when  the 
pools  are  frozen,  to  the  open  sea.  He  is  by  no 
means  the  best  flyer  of  his  family,  and  yet  he  is 
spread,  over  Europe  and  North  America,  and  even 
as  far  east  as  Japan,  while  his  ocean -loving  cousin, 
the  eider-duck,  lines  her  nest  and  lays  her  eggs  high 
up  in  Arctic  latitudes,  and  dives  and  swims  in  the 
open  ocean.  So  too  his  relations,  the  wild  swans 
and  geese  which  wander  in  the  lakes  and  swamps 
of  Lapland,  Siberia,  and  Hudson's  Bay,  feeding  on 
water- weeds,  worms,  and  slugs,  build  their  nests  in 
the  summer  in  the  far  north,  and  then  fly  thousands 
of  miles  southwards  to  their  winter  homes,  their 
strong  wings  whirring  in  the  air  as  they  go. 

Yet  these  are  scarcely  as  true  sea-birds  as  the 
divers,  the  Guillemots  and  Puffins,  the  Auks  and 
Grebes,  which  swim  out  all  round  our  coasts,  and 
dive  deep  down  to  feed  on  the  fish  below.  How 
clumsy  they  are  on  land  and  how  skilful  in  the 
water !  You  may  see  numbers  of  guillemots  and 
puffins  in  summer  on  the  high  cliffs  of  the  north 
of  Scotland,  or  of  Puffin  Island  in  the  Menai  Straits  ; 
the  guillemots  laying  their  eggs  on  the  bare  ledges, 
and  the  puffins  in  holes  which  they  burrow  in  the 
cliffs  face ;  and  they  sit  so  doggedly  upon  their 


GUILLEMOTS  AND  PUFFINS.  143 

nests,  and  shuffle  and  hop  along  so  awkwardly,  that 
men  climbing  up,  or  let  down  by  ropes  from  above, 
knock  them  over  as  they  go.  But  wait  till  the  eggs 
are  hatched,  and  the  little  ones  have  broken  out  of  their 
shelly  prison,  each  one  cracking  his  shell  from  inside 
by  means  of  a  little  horny  knob,  which  all  baby  birds 
have  for  this  purpose  at  the  end  of  their  beak,  and 
which  falls  off  when  they  are  fairly  born.  Then 
fathers,  mothers,  and  young  ones,  able  to  take  care 
of  themselves  as  soon  as  hatched,  launch  out  into 
the  open  sea  in  August,  and  there  is  a  sight  of  diving 
and  swimming  and  fishing  grand  to  behold.  The 
awkward  legs,  placed  so  far  back  on  their  body,  now 
serve  as  powerful  oars  and  rudders  to  drive  their 
smooth  satiny  bodies  through  the  water.  Their  thin 
narrow  legs  cut  through  the  waves  like  knives,  while 
their  short  stumpy  wings,  closely  laid  against  their 
down -covered  bodies,  keep  them  from  being  chilled, 
and  so  do  the  air -bubbles  which  are  entangled  in 
their  short  thick  feathers,  and  which  give  their 
backs  the  appearance  of  being  covered  with  quick- 
silver when  they  dive*  after  the  fish  below. 

And  then  when  the  winter  comes,  those  which 
have  bred  in  the  north  fly  and  swim  southwards 
to  our  coasts,  where  they  are  joined  by  the  true 
divers  and  grebes  which  have  come  from  the  rivers 
and  estuaries,  where  they  have  made  their  nests  on 
some  reedy  bank  or  floating  upon  the  water,  and  lived 
till  their  young  ones  are  strong.  This  is  their  sea- 
faring time  ;  and  whether  near  the  shore,  or  miles 
out  at  sea,  they  dive  and  swim  and  make  the  ocean 
their  home  till  spring  comes  round  again. 

*  This  beautiful  effect  may  be  seen  from  below  when  the  guillemots 
are  fed  in  any  of  the  public  aquariums. 


144 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


Still  all  their  roving  is  done  chiefly  by  swimming, 
and  they  leave  it  to  the  Gulls  and  Petrels,  the  Terns 

Fig.  .37- 


A  Group  of  Sea-Birds. 

i.   Cormorant.      2.   Black-winged  Tern.      3.   Gulls.      4.   Puffins. 
5.  Guillemots. 

and    the  powerful   Cormorants  and   Gannets,  to  fly 
hither  and  thither  over  the  wide  sea.      These  birds 


THE  SEA  BIRDS.  145 

have  indeed  reached  the  climax  of  a  seafaring  life, 
with  their  powerful  wings,  their  sharp  and  often 
hooked  beaks,  and  their  short  legs.  They,  too, 
feed  upon  the  water,  coming  up  with  a  fish  in  their 
mouth,  but  they  do  not  dive  under  and  swim  like 
the  guillemots.  On  the  contrary,  flying  is  their 
forte ;  they  swoop  down,  and  scarcely  have  they 
gone  a  few  feet  under  water  than  they  are  up  again, 
skimming  on  the  waves  as  they  swallow  their  prey, 
which  may  be  anything  from  dead  floating  creatures 
to  living  fish  which  have  ventured  too  near  the 
surface.  Yet  they  swim  well  too,  and  though  the 
common  gulls  rarely  go  more  than  twenty  miles  from 
the  shore,  they  are  quite  at  home  on  the  open  ocean, 
and  there  is  no  habitable  part  of  the  globe  without 
them.  Still  more  venturesome  are  the  petrels  : — 

"  Up  and  down,  up  and  down, 

From  the  base  of  the  wave  to  the  billow's  crown, 
And  amidst  the  flashing  and  featheiy  foam 
The  stormy  petrel  finds  a  home." 

They  are  smaller  and  lighter  than  the  common 
gulls,  and  are  never  so  happy  as  when  darting  over 
the  foam  of  an  angry  sea,  while  their  more  delicate 
relations,  the  Terns  or  sea-swallows,  with  their  long 
pointed  wings  and  forked  tails,  are  taking  shelter  in 
the  quiet  bays. 

Lastly,  king  among  all  sea -flying  birds  is  the 
gigantic  petrel,  the  Albatross.  What  a  grand  fellow 
he  is  when  he  is  once  on  the  wing,  though  he 
has  some  difficulty  in  starting.  Flying  onward, 
onward,  without  resting  day  or  night,  his  pure 
white  body  near  down  to  the  water,  his  large  head 
and  short  thick  neck  slightly  bent,  and  his  long, 


146  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

narrow,  black  wings,  often  measuring  ten  feet  from 
tip  to  tip,  widely  outspread,  he  beats  a  few  power- 
ful strokes,  and  then  sails  along,  using  his  head 
and  tail  as  rudders  to  turn  his  wings  to  the  wind 
Often  he  will  follow  a  ship  for  days,  sailing  round 
and  round  in  circles,  and  yet  keeping  easily  ahead, 
while  all  the  time  his  bright  eye  watches  the  water 
to  catch  every  chance  of  food.  Jelly-fish,  cuttle-fish, 
and  real  fish  of  all  kinds,  together  with  any  dead 
creatures  he  may  find  afloat, — all  is  food  to  him,  and 
his  powerful  beak  will  cut  through  the  toughest 
morsel.  For  days  and  days  he  will  fly  on,  never 
tiring,  and  feeding  as  he  goes  ;  and  if  he  alights  for 
a  time  upon  the  water  he  rises  with  difficulty,  unless 
the  waves  are  high  and  bear  him  up  on  their  crests  ; 
and  when  he  comes  to  rest  it  is  on  some  island  in 
mid-ocean,  where  he  seeks  a  mate,  and  brings  up  his 
nestlings  either  on  the  low  ground  or  on  the  top  of 
a  high  mountain,  in  a  hollow  lined  with  grass  and 
moss.  Truly,  if  we  look  at  the  far-flying  albatross 
we  must  acknowledge  that  the  wings  of  a  bird  have 
given  him  the  command  of  the  sea  as  well  as  the  land. 
He  forms  a  strange  contrast  to  the  curious  stunted 
bird  form  which  we  may  find  in  those  same  islands 
where  the  mother  albatross  lays  her  eggs.  For 
there,  in  the  islands  of  the  South  Pacific,  close  by 
the  side  of  the  albatross  nest,  are  whole  groups  of 
strange -looking  birds,  the  Penguins,  with  their  fat, 
white,  feathered  breasts,  their  dark  head  and  beak, 
their  curious  hind  legs  set  right  at  the  end  of  their 
body,  and  their  small  paddle-like  wings,  covered  with 
short  stiff  feathers,  quite  useless  for  flight.  We  have 
come  upon  a  strange  story  here,  for  our  penguin  is 


THE  PENGUINS. 


147 


a  low  relation  of  the  guillemots  and  puffins  whom 
we  left  in  the  north,  and,  like  the  great  northern  auk, 
which  has  now  been  extinct  for  many  years,  he  has 
lost  the  use  of  his  wings.  He  has  no  dangerous 
enemies  on  these  rocky  inaccessible  islands,  where 
he  and  his  companions  form  dense  penguin  rookeries 

Fig.  38. 


Albatrosses  and  Penguins. 

upon  the  ground,  unless  it  be  the  large  gulls  or  skuas 
which  steal  the  eggs.  Nor  has  he  any  need  for  fly- 
ing, for  the  sea  is  all  around  him,  and  even  if  he 
wishes  to  migrate  to  warmer  waters  in  winter,  he 
does  so  by  swimming.  Therefore  we  find  that  his 
wings  are  lost  to  him  for  any  flying  purpose,  and 


148  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

nothing  can  be  more  awkward  than  he  looks,  shuffling 
or  hopping  along  with  outstretched  arms,  like  a  fat 
baby,  till  he  comes  to  the  water's  edge.  But  when 
he  dives  in  and  swims  it  is  quite  a  different  matter. 
Then  his  easy  wavy  motion,  like  that  of  a  seal, 
shows  at  once  that  his  stumpy  imperfect  wings  are 
excellent  fins,  while  his  feet  serve  him  both  as  oars 
and  rudders. 

Thus  we  have  traced  our  swimming  and  web- 
footed  birds  to  their  extreme  types — the  strongest 
flyer  in  the  albatross,  and  the  lowest,  most  fish-like 
bird  in  the  penguin  ;  while,  if  we  were  to  follow  the 
pointed -winged  frigate-bird  in  his  flight,  or  see  the 
pouched  pelican  in  his  home,  we  should  find  another 
group  of  these  web-footed  birds,  no  longer  merely 
standing  upon  rocks,  but  perching  upon  the  boughs 
of  trees,  and  building  their  nests  by  the  side  of  rivers 
in  warm  countries  nearly  all  over  the  world,  or  among 
the  mangrove  bushes  of  the  tropical  islands. 

And  now,  if  we  return  to  our  northern  shores  and 
pause  upon  the  broad  wet  sands  at  low  tide,  we  may 
chance  to  find  whole  flocks  of  active  little  birds 
hovering  and  running  and  wading  in  the  water,  or 
pecking  on  the  sands  ;  and  the  double-noted  whistle 
of  the  Curlew,  or  the  musical  cry  of  the  Peewit  (or 
Lapwing),  tell  us  at  once  that  they  are  "  waders," — 
birds  with  bare  legs,  flat  toes,  and  long  beaks,  which 
drop  down  on  the  muddy  flats  by  the  sea,  seeking 
their  food  at  the  edge  of  the  water.  There  they  are, 
Curlews  and  Dunlins  and  Sandpipers,  Plovers  and 
Knots,  Oystercatchers  feeding  on  mussels  and  lim- 
pets, and  Turnstones  tilting  up  the  lumps  of  mud 


WADING  BIRDS. 


149 


to  find  food  beneath.  One  and  all  they  are  running 
hither  and  thither,  to  seize  here  a  shrimp  or  sand- 
hopper  or  a  tiny  fish,  there  a  worm  or  a  sea-slug  ; 
making  the  most  of  their  time  before  the  sea  comes 
up  and  covers  their  feeding  ground. 

Here   we   have   no   webbed   feet  or   legs    set   far 
back,  but  three  long,  flat,  straight  toes,  well  fitted 

Fig.  39- 


A  group  of  Wading  Birds. 

I,  Stilt ;  2,  Avocet ;  3,  Peewit ;  4,  Dunlins  ;  5,  Curlew  Sandpiper  ; 
6,  Sanderling;  7,  Oystercatcher ;  8,  Curlew;  9,  Turnstone. 

for  walking  on  marshy  ground  and  treading  lightly 
on  water-plants,  and  slender  bodies  well  balanced  on 
long  thin  legs,  which  move  so  quickly  as  they  run 
that  you  can  scarcely  see  them  ;  while,  when  they 
fly,  their  long  wings  carry  them  lightly  through  the 
air,  with  their  legs  stretched  out  behind. 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFERS  RACE. 


Fig.  40. 


What  connection  can  there  be  between  these 
active  light  little  beings,  and  the  broad-bodied  web- 
footed  swimmers  ?  Go  to  the  Zoological  Gardens, 
and  look  at  the  Flamingo,  with  his  long  legs  and 

curious  curved  beak.. 
He  is  of  the  true 
swimming  type,  with 
his  webbed  feet  and 
his  sieve- like  bill, 
with  its  rows  of 
horny  strainers  like 
the  geese ;  yet  he 
feeds  by  wading  in 
salt-water  lakes  and 
pools  on  the  sea- 
shore, raking  the 
bottom  for  food,  and 
showing  how  a 
swimmer  and  a 
wader  may  once 
have  had  the  same 
starting-point,  be- 
fore the  one  went 
out  to  sea,  and  the 
fl^A  other  in  to  shore. 
And  then  when  we 
come  back  to  our 
own  little  waders, 
and  learn  that  they 
visit  the  sea,  and 
feed  upon  the  wet 

sands  from  the  autumn  to  the  spring,  and   then  fly 
inland  to  build   their   nests   in   the   damp   meadows, 


^ 


The  Flamingo. 

A  duck-billed  and  web-footed  bird 
among  the  waders. 


WADING  BIRDS.  151 

feeding  on  earthworms,  slugs,  and  insects  of  the 
land,  we  can  see  what  an  advantage  this  double  life 
must  be  to  them. 

Notice,  too,  how  shy  and  timid  they  have  become 
from  living  among  other  animals,  and  watching  for 
every  danger.  Try  to  get  near  one,  and  see  how  it 
will  run  on,  turning  its  head  hither  and  thither  to 
watch,  and  at  last  will  rise  and  be  out  of  sight  in 
no  time.  Or  go  and  look  for  plover's  eggs  on  the 
swampy  grounds  in  our  northern  counties  in  the 
early  summer,  when 

" from  the  shore 

The  plovers  scatter  o'er  the  heath, 

And  sing  their  wild  notes  to  the  listening  waste." 

The  mother  will  no  sooner  see  you  than  she  will 
crouch  down,  running  along  a  rut,  and  then  move 
slowly  away  with  a  drooping  wing  as  if  wounded, 
hoping  to  make  you  follow  her  and  pass  by  the 
little  earthy  hollow  where  her  precious  eggs  are 
lying.  The  experience  of  life  has  made  these  little 
ground-nesting  birds  very  intelligent,  since  they  have 
had  a  land  as  well  as  a  watery  home,  and  the  little 
moor-hen,  which,  like  the  rails  and  crakes,  has  taken 
entirely  to  a  freshwater  life  in  ponds,  brooks,  canals, 
and  rivers,  has  learned  to  hide  her  nest  so  skilfully, 
and  to  dive  and  swim  so  cleverly,  that  even  a  trained 
water-spaniel  often  loses  her  when  close  upon  her 
home. 

And  as  the  swimmers  have  their  large  birds  in 
the  albatross,  so  the  waders  too  have  theirs  in  the 
Herons,  the  Storks,  and  the  Cranes.  Who  does  not 
know  how  the  storks  fly  in  flocks  to  the  sunny  south 
in  winter,  and  come  back  in  the  spring  to  build  their 
8 


i$2  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

nests  in  the  chimneys  of  the  houses  of  Holland  and 
Germany,  feeding  on  the  banks  of  rivers,  and  in  the 
fens  on  lizards,  fish,  frogs,  and  water-snakes  ;  or  how 
the  cranes  pass  their  summer  in  the  stormy  north, 
and  their  winter  among  the  old  ruins  of  Egyptian 
greatness  ?  But  the  herons  remain  with  us  all  the 
year,  feeding  on  shrimps  and  crabs  on  the  weed- 
covered  shores,  or  more  often  in  ponds  and  lakes 
upon  frogs,  water-rats,  and  fish.  How  patiently  you 
may  see  a  heron  stand  with  his  head  slightly  bent,  still 
and  motionless,  till  a  fish  passes  by  !  Then  quick 
as  a  flash  of  lightning,  his  head  darts  forward,  im- 
paling or  seizing  the  prey  in  the  strong  beak,  and  he 
is  off  to  eat  it  at  his  leisure.  Thus  he  lives  a  solitary 
life  all  the  year  until  the  spring-time,  when  he  flies 
off  to  some  group  of  lofty  trees  where  for  genera- 
tions his  family  have  built  their  nests,  and,  meeting 
with  his  fellows,  piles  up  huge  masses  of  sticks  and 
grass  among  the  tangled  boughs. 

And  there  the  young  herons  are  hatched  and  fed 
in  the  ancient  heronry  till  they  can  perch  and  fly. 
For  now  among  the  waders  we  have  come  to  birds 
that  can  perch,  as  we  did  among  the  swimmers  (see 
p.  148).  The  heron  has  no  longer  the  three-toed 
flat  foot  of  the  wader,  with  perhaps  a  slight  spur 
behind,  but  a  large  fourth  toe,  with  which  he  can 
grasp  the  bough  ;  and  as  .he  flies  across  the  country, 
uttering  his  strange  harsh  cry,  often  rising  even 
higher  than  the  hawks  and  falcons,  and  alighting  on 
the  top  of  some  tall  tree,  few  people  would  think  of 
classing  him  among  the  waders,  so  like  is  he  to  those 
true  land-birds  whose  life  is  spent  in  the  air  and 
whose  home  is  in  the  trees. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  FEATHERED  CONQUERORS  OF  THE  AIR. 

•PART  II. — FROM  RUNNING  TO  FLYING:  FROM  MOUND  LAYING 
TO  NEST  BUILDING  :  FROM  CRY  TO  SONG. 

So  the  deserts  and  plains  have  their  ostriches  and 
cassowaries,  the  open  ocean  w  its  albatrosses  and  its 
penguins,  the  shores  their  ducks,  gulls,  and  waders, 
and  the  little  inland  pools  and  marshes  their  water- 


154  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

birds,  which  come  there  to  build  their  nests  and  seek 
for  food.  Yet  these  are  after  all  not  by  any  means 
the  larger  portion  of  the  bird  world.  It  is  in  the 
woods  and  forests,  the  moors  and  pastures,  on  the 
solitary  mountain  peaks  above,  and  in  the  snug 
valleys  nestling  below,  that  we  find  the  myriads  of 
song  birds  and  game  birds  and  birds  of  prey  ;  of 
climbing  birds  such  as  the  Woodpeckers  ;  swiftly 
sailing  birds  such  as  the  Swifts,  cooing  Wood-pigeons 
and  cawing  Rooks  ;  terrible  Eagles  and  Hawks,  or 
sweet-singing  Nightingales  and  Thrushes. 

All  these  birds  have  had  a  very  different  education 
from  that  of  the  far-sailing  albatross  or  the  running 
ostrich.  They  have  grown  up  in  the  midst  of  innu- 
merable dangers  ;  for  enemies  of  all  kinds — beasts 
and  reptiles  and  other  birds — live  all  round  about 
them,  making  food  scarce  and  destroying  their  young, 
so  that  of  the  millions  born  into  the  world  thousands 
upon  thousands  perish  every  year  before  they  grow  up. 
We  should  expect,  then,  that  these  land  birds  would 
learn  many  devices  for  protecting  themselves  and 
their  little  ones.  The  guillemot  can  afford  to  lay 
her  egg  on  the  bare  rock,  for  few  animals  can  climb 
the  high  cliffs  where  she  makes  her  home  ;  and  the 
penguin  on  her  solitary  island  may  lay  hers  in  the 
mud  on  the  ground.  But  the  little  lark  must  look 
carefully  for  high  grass  in  which  to  build  her  nest, 
and  the  rook  must  weave  a  strong  basket-work  of 
twigs  to  make  a  home  for  her  nestlings  in  the  top 
of  the  high  elm. 

Moreover,  the  land  birds  cannot  sleep  safely  on 
the  ground,  where  weasels  and  stoats,  foxes  and  wild 
cats,  prowl  by  night  in  search  of  prey  ;  they  must 


LAND  BIRDS  AND  THEIR  DANGERS.         155 

take  their  rest  on  the  boughs  of  the  tall  trees  and 
cling  on  by  their  toes  even  when  they  are  in  the 
deepest  slumber.  This  they  could  not  do  if  they 
had  the  stumpy  cushioned  feet  of  the  ostrich,  the 
webbed  feet  of  the  duck,  or  the  flat  three-toed  feet 
of  the  waders.  It  is  the  fourth  toe  turned  back- 
wards, and  growing  very  long  in  many  of  the  perch- 
ing birds,  which  gives  them  their  grasp ;  while  a 
special  muscle,  beginning  behind  the  thigh  (tk,  Fig. 
33,  p.  126),  coming  round  over  the  front  of  the  knee 
(>&),  and  then  passing  behind  the  heel  (/z),  and  on  to 
the  toes,  keeps  them  bent  Picture  for  a  moment  this 
muscle  sending  its  cords  or  tendons  from  behind  the 
leg  over  the  knee,  and  then  drawn  back  by  the  heel, 
and  you  will  see  that  the  more  heavily  the  bird  sleeps, 
pressing  upon  its  legs,  the  more  the  knees  will  be  bent 
forward,  the  tighter  the  cord  must  be  stretched,  and 
the  stronger  the  grasp  will  be  upon  the  bough. 

Again,  as  to  food,  the  land  birds  will  be  more 
closely  pressed  than  those  which  can  at  all  times 
fish  in  the  sea.  There  is  great  scarcity  of  land  food 
in  the  winter,  while  in  summer  whole  flocks  of  newly- 
born  fledgelings  are  clamouring  for  their  daily  bread. 
So  we  shall  find  that  every  kind  of  eatable  thing 
is  turned  to  account,  and  we  have  among  land  birds 
seed-eaters,  vegetable-feeders,  and  fruit-eaters ;  insect- 
devourers,  and  feeders  on  slugs  and  worms  and 
snails  ;  and  flesh-eaters  which  feed  on  other  birds,  or 
on  mice,  bats,  and  larger  animals  ;  while  large  flocks 
of  birds  of  all  kinds  visit  different  parts  of  the  earth  in 
the  various  seasons,  going  north  in  summer  to  build 
their  nests,  and  south  in  winter,  in  search  of  food. 
All  these  birds  live  chiefly  in  the  air  ;  while  on  the 


156  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

ground  there  are  the  scratchers — fowls,  partridges, 
turkeys,  and  grouse,  which  rake  out  the  hidden 
grains,  and  rarely  rise  into  the  air  except  when  they 
are  frightened,  or  to  roost  on  the  trees  at  night. 
And  between  these  ground  birds  and  the  true  tree 
birds  we  have  the  doves  and  pigeons,  some  of  which 
feed  on  fallen  seed  and  grains,  and  others  on  fruit. 
And  each  and  all  of  these  birds  have  some  difference 
in  beak  and  claw,  in  their  manner  of  nest  building 
and  rearing  their  young,  and  in  their  habits  and  ways, 
which  enables  them  to  make  the  most  of  their  lives. 

Even  nest  building  does  not  come  to  all  land 
birds  by  nature,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  it  depends  very 
largely  on  the  habits  and  the  structure  of  the  builders. 
Thus  the  Partridges,  and  their  relations  the  Pheasants 
and  Grouse,  lay  their  eggs  in  the  thick  grass  of  the 
meadows  or  among  the  heather,  and  at  most  some- 
times scratch  together  a  few  dry  grass  blades  for  a 
bed.  In  this  they  remind  us  much  of  the  ostrich 
family,  which  also  scrape  a  hole  in  the  ground  for 
their  eggs  and  scratch  food  for  their  children  ;  and 
in  fact  there  is  a  group  of  curious  heavily-flying 
birds,  called  Tinamous,  in  South  America,  which  are 
so  like  quails  and  partridges  on  the  one  hand,  and 
ostriches  on  the  other,  that  they  lead  us  to  wonder 
whether  it  was  not  from  the  ancestors  of  such  birds 
as  these  in  ancient  times  that  the  heavy  running 
birds  started  on  one  road,  while  the  lighter  and 
swifter  birds  took  to  the  wing. 

The  wings  of  all  the  scratching  birds  are  even 
now  short  and  round,  and  their  flight  is  feeble.  Their 
chief  home  is  on  the  ground,  where  they  crouch 


GROUND  BIRDS.  157 

among  the  thick  herbage  when  the  keen-eyed  hawk 
is  hovering  overhead,  never  taking  to  their  wings  till 
no  other  chance  is  left  them.  The  mother  partridge 
runs  many  dangers  as  she  sits  upon  her  dark- 
coloured  eggs  in  some  sheltered  spot,  for  weasels 
and  stoats  will  attack  her  and  steal  her  eggs  if  she 
leaves  them  for  a  moment,  or  kill  her  herself  if 
they  can  take  her  unawares  in  the  dark  night  She 
could  never  hope  to  rear  her  young  ones  if  they  did 
not  come  out  of  the  egg  well  covered  with  down, 
and  able  to  run  and  pick  by  her  side  while  she  and 
the  father  scratch  the  ground  with  their  short  blunt 
claws  to  get  ant-cocoons,  and  later  on  worms  and 
insects  for  them. 

Yet  so  well  does  scratching  answer,  in  getting  at 
buried  food  such  as  other  birds  cannot  find,  that 
there  are  a  large  number  of  these  ground  birds  all 
over  the  world.  The  Guinea  fowls  of  Africa,  the 
spurred  Peacocks,  Pheasants,  and  Jungle  fowls  of 
India  (from  which  last  our  tame  fowls  probably 
come),  the  wild  Turkeys  of  America,  the  Quails  which 
live  in  all  parts  of  the  old  world  from  Australia 
to  England,  and  the  Ptarmigans  of  our  northern 
countries,  which  put  on  their  white  plumage  in 
winter — all  these  show  how  advantage  has  been 
taken  of  every  nook  in  which  ground  birds  could 
find  shelter.  We  find  them  hiding  in  thick  jungles 
and  shady  woods,  or  even  in  open  ground  among 
high  grass  and  corn,  scratching  mother  earth  for 
their  daily  food  ;  washing  not  in  water  but  actually 
in  the  dust,  by  rolling  in  it,  and  then  shaking  it  off; 
escaping  many  dangers  by  wearing  a  plumage  very 
much  the  same  in  colour  as  the  different  grasses  and 


158 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


leaves  among  which  they  hide ;  and  feeding  on 
insects,  worms,  and  seeds,  and  whatever  they  can 
find  upon  the  ground  or  under  it 

And  when  we  travel  far  off  to  Australia,  we 
find  ground  birds  which  do  not  even  sit  on  their 
eggs,  nor  take  care  of  their  young,  but  leave  them 

Fig.  41. 


Brush  turkeys  *  and  their  egg  mounds. 

as  reptiles  do  to  be  hatched  in  the  sun.  The  Brush- 
turkeys  and  Megapodes  of  Australia  and  the  islands 
near,  and  the  Maleos  of  Celebes — all  of  them  scratch- 
ing birds — come  out  of  the  thick  jungle  and  lay  their 
brick-red  or  pale-coloured  eggs  on  the  shore,  never 

*  Talegallus. 


MOUND  BUILDING  BIRDS.  159 

taking  any  more  notice  of  them.  The  maleos 
simply  scratch  a  hole  in  the  sand  and  bury  the  eggs, 
the  brush  turkeys  and  megapodes  *  scratch  together 
all  kinds  of  rubbish  and  dead  leaves,  carrying  them 
in  their  long  curved  claws,  and  adding  them  to  the 
heap  till  they  have  made  a  mound  sometimes  more 
than  seven  or  eight  feet  high,  and  twenty  feet  across 
at  the  base  ;  an  astounding  size,  when  we  consider 
that  the  brush  turkeys  are  not  nearly  as  large  as  a 
good -sized  turkey,  and  the  megapodes  not  larger 
than  hens.  It  is  to  these  mounds  that  the  mothers 
come  about  every  ten  days,  and  lay  an  egg  up- 
right, till  each  has  laid  eight  or  nine,  and  then  she 
comes  no  more ;  but  after  many  weeks  the  little 
chicks  work  their  way  out  fully  fledged,  and  fly 
away  to  get  their  own  living.  The  probable  reason, 
Mr.  Wallace  tells  us,  for  this  curious  habit  of  mound- 
building,  is  that  the  eggs  are  so  large  that  the  mother 
can  only  lay  one  every  ten  days,  so  that  if  she  sat 
upon  them  she  would  be  worn  out  with  fatigue  and 
want  of  proper  food  before  they  were  all  laid  and 
hatched. 

We  see  then  that  the  scratching  birds  live  nearly 
all  over  the  world,  yet,  no  doubt,  it  is  a  disad- 
vantage to  them  that  in  their  ground  life  they  have 
become  so  heavy  that  they  cannot  fly  so  lightly  or 
so  far  as  their  near  allies,  the  pigeons,  which,  like 
them,  feed  on  the  ground.  For  the  Pigeons  have 
already  made  many  steps  forward  in  life.  Their 
wings  are  strong,  so  that  they  can  fly  for  great  dis- 
tances ;  their  toes  are  slender  and  well  fitted  for 

*  Megapodidae  or  large-footed  birds. 


160  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

perching ;  and  though  it  is  true  that  our  tame  pigeons 
and  the  wild  rock -pigeons  from  which  they  are 
descended  do  not  build  nests,  but  lay  their  eggs  in 
dovecots  or  church  towers,  or,  if  they  are  wild,  in 
holes  in  the  rocks,  yet  the  beautiful  blue-gray  wood- 
Fig.  42. 


Wood -pigeon  on  her  nest. 

pigeon,  with  her  pure  white  collar  and  soft  cooing 
note,  builds  a  nest  in  the  trees — 

"  The  stock-dove  builds  her  nest 

Where  the  wild  flowers'  odours  float ; " 

though  it  is  but  a  rough  one,  made,  as  well  as  her 
weak  feet  and  bill  can  do  it,  of  a  few  stout  twigs, 
laid  so  loosely  that  her  two  little  white  eggs  may  be 
seen  from  below,  and  even  sometimes  fall  through. 

Yet,  though  but  a  beginner  in  nest  building,  she 
is  a  true  tree  bird,  and  her  little  ones  are  born  naked 
and  helpless,  far  out  of  reach  of  the  ground,  and 


GROUND-FEEDING  TREE  BIRDS.  161 

must  be  fed  and  cared  for  till  they  can  fly.  So  she 
feeds  them  with  infant  pap  from  her  own  mouth. 
The  "  crop "  or  bag  in  which  the  partridge  or  hen 
stores  the  grain  she  picks  up  is  large  and  single  ;  but 
the  pigeon  has  two  bags,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
throat,  and  when  she  is  feeding  her  young  these  bags 
secrete  a  large  quantity  of  milky  fluid,  which,  mixing 
with  the  tender  shoots  she  has  pecked  off  in  the 
spring,  or  with  the  oily  seeds  she  has  gathered  for 
her  autumn  brood,  makes  a  soft  food,  which  she  pours 
into  the  mouths  of  her  nestlings  till  they  fly  and  feed 
themselves. 

In  the  pigeons,  then,  we  are  gradually  rising 
from  the  ground  birds, — where  the  father  gener- 
ally has  many  wives  *  and  the  young  ones  run  as 
soon  as  they  are  hatched, — to  the  tree  birds,  where 
father  and  mother,  taught  by  the  helplessness  of 
their  brood,  share  the  cares  of  nest  building  and  the 
pleasures  of  love.  Even  the  pigeons  did  not  all  at 
once  become  tree  birds,  for  we  have  them  in  all  stages 
now  from  the  ground  to  the  air.  Many  years  ago, 
in  the  island  of  Mauritius,  there  were  heavy  flat- 
breasted  pigeons,  the  Dodos,  which  lived  entirely  on 
the  ground  without  the  power  to  rise,  so  that  when 
the  Dutch  settled  there,  bringing  rats  with  them  in 
their  ships,  the  Dodos  soon  fell  victims  to  the  in- 
truders, and  now  there  is  not  one  left.  Again,  in 
New  Guinea  now,  there  are  ground  pigeons  which 
fly  heavily  and  slowly,  and  only  go  to  the  trees 
to  roost.  Then  come  our  own  tame  pigeons,  the 
rock-pigeons,  and  the  stock-dove  which  builds  in 
holes  in  the  trees  ;  and  then  our  wood-dove  and  his 

*  Partridges,  quails,  and  some  others  are  exceptions,  and  pair. 


1 62  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

relations,  with  their  rude  nests  and  their  mixed  food 
of  grain  and  grass.  And  among  these  are  the  won- 
derful long-winged  passenger  pigeons  *  of  America, 
which  fly  in  flocks  of  hundreds  of  thousands  through 
Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Indiana,  in  search  of  nuts  and 
seeds,  breaking  down  the  boughs  of  the  trees  by  their 
weight  where  they  alight,  and  then  darkening  the 
whole  sky  as  they  start  off  again  in  a  succession  of 
vast  multitudes  to  another  forest  where  beech  nuts, 
acorns,  and  chestnuts  are  plentiful,  or  to  the  rice- 
grounds  of  Carolina,  to  take  their  fill. 

And,  lastly,  we  come  to  the  beautiful  green  fruit- 
eating  pigeons  of  India  and  the  East — the  feeders 
on  nutmegs  and  palm-fruits  and  juicy  berries  of  all 
kinds.  These  are  true  tree  birds,  difficult  even  to 
find,  so  like  are  they  to  the  colour  of  the  leaves  ; 
yet  they  still  build  the  loose  untidy  nests  of  their 
kind. 

Nor  need  we  wonder  at  this,  for  fine  nest  building 
requires  both  strength  and  delicacy  in  the  bill  and 
feet ;  and  the  next  group  of  birds  escapes  it  altogether 
by  finding  or  making  holes  in  trees  and  banks,  and 
lining  them  with  moss  or  leaves.  This  group  is  the 
Climbers,  which  come,  as  it  were,  between  the  ground 
birds  and  birds  of  active  flight,  for  they  clamber  swiftly 
up  the  trunks  and  over  the  branches  of  trees  in  search 
of  fruits  and  insects,  seldom  going  down  to  the  ground, 
but  flitting  from  tree  to  tree  to  find  fresh  hunting 
grounds. 

What  is  that  green  object,  about  as  large  as  a 
small  squirrel,  which  we  see  mounting  the  trunk  of 
one  of  the  elm  trees,  as  we  lie  resting  on  the  moss 

*  Columba  migratoria. 


CLIMBING  BIRDS. 


163 


in  some  quiet  wood  ?  There  it  goes,  dodging  now 
to  this  side,  now  to  that,  with  its  head  well  lifted 
and  its  stiff  tail  bent  against  the  trunk.  It  is  the 
green  woodpecker  at  his  work.  His  long  large  feet, 
with  toes  divided  in  pairs,  two  in  front  and  two 
behind,  take  firm  hold  of  the  tree  with  their  sharp 

Fig.  43- 


The  great  green  Woodpecker.* 

claws  ;  his  breast,  which  is  flatter  than  that  of  most 
birds,  lies  close  against  the  bark,  as  he  mounts  by  a 
number  of  rapid  jumps,  which  are  made  by  pressing 
his  strangely  stiff  horny  tail  against  the  trunk,  while 
he  hops  forward  with  both  feet,  making  a  slight 

*  Gecinus  viridis. 


i64  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

rustling  noise,  and  moving  so  fast  that  it  is  difficult 
to  see  how  he  does  it. 

Now  he  pauses  ;  it  is  to  try  a  suspicious  place  in 
the  bark,  and  tapping  it  with  his  beak  he  finds  that 
it  gives  a  hollow  sound.  This  tells  him  at  once  that 
it  is  rotten,  and  there  is  an  insect  within  ;  and  peck- 
ing a  hole  with  rapid  blows  of  his  chisel -like  bill, 
he  inserts  his  narrow  bill,  and  darts  a  long  gluey 
tongue,  with  barbed  tip,  into  the  dark  passage, 
bringing  out  the  intruder,  which  is  swallowed  in  a 
moment.  A  strange  tongue  this  is  of  the  wood- 
pecker, for  it  has  two  long  bony  branches  at  its  roots, 
and  each  one  is  like  a  bow  bent  under  and  round  the 
back  of  the  bird's  head,  and  as  these  bows  are  tight- 
ened or  slackened  by  the  slender  muscles  the  tongue 
is  drawn  in,  or  thrust  out  to  an  extraordinary  length. 
Moreover,  it  has  at  its  tip  a  horny  covering  beset 
with  tiny  barbs,  and  every  time  it  goes  back  to  the 
mouth  these  are  bathed  in  gluey  slime  to  catch  the 
next  insect  it  may  meet.  Nor  is  the  woodpecker 
obliged  always  to  drill  for  his  food.  The  tiny  ants, 
as  they  wander  up  and  down  the  trees,  the  beetles 
and  bees  settling  on  the  branches — all  may  fear  this 
gluey  weapon,  for  all  alike  disappear  within  the  long 
thin  beak. 

And  now,  perhaps,  our  friend  has  flown  to  another 
tree,  and  is  some  way  up  it.  Where  is  he  gone  ? 
Climb  up  and  look,  and  you  will  find  a  small  round 
hole,  small  outside  but  not  inside,  for  the  woodpecker 
has  hollowed  out  the  soft  rotten  wood,  and  within,  if 
it  be  early  summer,  the  mother  is  still  sitting  upon 
five  or  seven  pure  white  eggs,  out  of  which  the  naked 
little  ones  will  soon  creep.  He  is  a  clever  fellow  the 


CLIMBING  BIRDS.  165 

woodpecker,  but  he  is  by  no  means  the  chief  or  most 
conspicuous  of  the  climbers,  for  in  this  group  we 
have  some  of  the  most  gaudy  and  remarkable  of 
birds.  The  brilliantly-coloured  Barbets,  ±he  gaudy- 
headed  Toucans,  with  their  clumsy  bills  and  long 
barbed  tongues,  and  the  gorgeously -tin  ted  Parrots 
and  Parroquets,  with  their  soft  fleshy  tongues  so 
well  adapted  for  speech,  are  all  climbers,  with  toes 
divided  two  and  two,  and  they  wander  about  the 
trees  of  South  America  and  the  East,  feeding  on 
fruits  and  seeds. 

Where  in  any  other  part  of  the  animal  kingdom 
can  we  find  so  many  brilliant  colours  crowded 
together  as  in  the  plumage  of  birds,  and  especially 
in  birds  of  tropical  countries  ?  The  large  land 
animals  cannot  afford  to  wear  such  bright  coats  lest 
they  should  attract  their  enemies,  nor  can  even  birds 
often  put  on  gay  plumage  in  our  northern  climates, 
where  the  trees  are  bare  for  half  the  year.  But  in 
warm  sunny  latitudes,  where  the  trees  are  always 
green  and  the  foliage  thick  and  heavy,  and  where 
brilliant  fruits  and  flowers  often  peep  out  among  the 
leaves,  the  gaily-coloured  birds  can  wander  in  com- 
parative safety,  and  even  the  gaudy  parrots  are  not 
easily  detected  as  they  clamber  from  bough  to  bough, 
using  not  their  tail  like  the  woodpecker,  but  their  beak, 
as  a  third  foot  to  hold  on  by  as  they  climb. 

None  of  these  birds  build  nests ;  indeed,  they 
could  hardly  do  so  with  their  clumsy  beaks  and  thick 
heavy  feet ;  they  either,  like  the  ground  parrots,  put 
together  a  few  leaves  in  hollows  of  the  earth  or 
in  ants'  nests  ;  or,  like  the  fruit -eating  parrots  and 
toucans,  they  lay  their  eggs  in  tree-holes,  where  the 


i66 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


bright -coloured  mother  is  safely  hidden  till  she  is  set 
at  liberty  again.  Even  the  cuckoos  which,  though 
they  are  climbers,  have  taken  much  more  to  the  wing 
than  their  associates,  sometimes  avoid  the  trouble  of 
nest  building  by  laying  their  eggs  in  the  nests  of 
other  birds,  as  our  own  spring  visitor  always  does. 

Fig.  44. 


Some  of  them,  however,  in  America  and  elsewhere, 
have  contracted  better  habits,  and  build  very  respect- 
able nests  of  their  own. 

Indeed,  we  shall  now  soon  begin  to  make  progress 
in  nest  building,  for  the  next  group  of  birds,  which 

*  Alcedo  ispida. 


DARTING  BIRDS.  167 

dart  at  their  food  with  wide-gaping  mouth  and  seize 
it  on  the  wing,  have  among  them  many  clever  little 
architects.  It  is  true  our  English  kingfisher  builds 
in  holes  on  the  river  bank,  lining  her  nest  with  fishes' 
bones,  and  the  Nightjar  (wrongly  called  the  goat- 
sucker), with  her  wide -gaping  mouth,  lays  her  egg 
on  the  ground.  But  both  these  are  lowly  Darters, 
for  the  kingfisher  sits  on  a  bough  close  above  the 
water,  and  pounces  down  upon  the  fish  or  water- 
insects  ;  and  the  lonely  nightjar,  with  her  strange 
wailing  cry,  flits  among  the  bushes  in  the  twilight, 
or  often  even  creeps  after  her  prey. 

Neither  of  these  birds  can  compare  in  flight  with 
the  Swifts,  as  they  dart  upon  the  wing  from  some 
high  pinnacle  to  collect  a  mouthful  of  insects,  and 
come  back  to  eat  them,  nor  to  the  lovely  little  Hum- 
ming Birds  of  America,  which  poise  themselves  so 
deftly  on  the  wing,  while  their  slender  bill  searches 
the  long-tubed  flowers  for  insects  or  seizes  these  as 
they  pass.  These  living  jewels  of  nature  build 
beautiful  and  delicate  nests  of  leaves  and  grass  and 
spiders'  webs  interwoven  like  fairy  cradles  ;  while  the 
swift  makes  a  far  stronger  home  of  hair  and  feathers, 
grass  and  moss,  glueing  them  together  with  saliva  * 
from  his  mouth,  and  fastening  them  under  the  eaves  or 
on  the  top  of  some  tall  waterspout.  It  is  easy  to  see 
why  the  swift  chooses  such  lofty  spots,  for  his  slender 
weak  toes  are  ill-fitted  for  standing  on  the  ground,  and 
he  rises  with  great  difficulty  when  once  he  has  alighted 
there,  but  from  a  height  he  can  drop  easily  on  to  the 
wing,  and  skim  the  air  for  his  food. 

*  The  Indian  and  Chinese  edible-nest  Swiftlets  (Collocalia),  make 
their  nests  entirely  of  this  saliva,  and  they  are  eaten  by  the  natives. 


1 68  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

Now  the  swift,  which  visits  us  only  in  summer  to 
build  his  nest,  when  insects  are  plentiful,  and  spends 
the  rest  of  his  time  in  Africa,  is  a  type  of  a  whole 
army  of  birds,  lovely,  bright,  and  gay,  with  short  weak 
feet,  long  wings,  and  a  gaping  mouth  surrounded 
by  bristly  hairs,  which  swarm  in  hot  countries  where 
insects  are  to  be  found  all  the  year  round.  Among 
these  are  the  beautiful  little  Bee-eaters  and  Rollers 
of  the  East  and  Africa,  which  revel  in  insect  food, 
and  sometimes  visit  us  in  the  summer,  coming 
over  to  the  south  of  Spain,  or  even,  in  the  case  of 
the  rollers,  as  far  north  as  Sweden  ;  while  in  South 
America  the  dull -coloured  Puff- birds,  the  brilliant 
Jacamars  with  their  metallic -looking  feathers,  the 
delicate  little  Todies,  the  bright  green  Motmots,  and 
the  lovely  Humming-birds,  swarm  in  countless 
numbers,  hiding  among  the  dense  foliage,  or  darting 
in  the  bright  sunshine  after  bee  or  butterfly,  or  other 
unwary  insects. 

But  we  must  not  pause  too  long  among  these 
smaller  groups  of  birds,  for  the  multitude  of  perching 
birds,  which  form  nine -tenths  of  the  whole  bird 
kingdom,  await  us  with  their  delicate  nests  and  their 
happy  family  life.  Ah  !  now  we  are  really  coming 
to  nature's  feathered  favourites,  for  what  can  be 
sweeter  than  the  song  of  the  nightingale,  the  sky- 
lark, or  the  thrush  ?  or  more  touching  than  the  fact 
that  the  young  ones  learn  from  their  father  the 
loving  notes  ;  that  they,  in  their  turn,  may  be  able 
to  woo  and  win  some  gentle  mate  to  share  their 
nests  and  bring  up  their  young  ones?  It  is  for 
this  that  they  have  gained  that  wonderful  singing 


PERCHING  BIRDS  AND  THEIR  SONG.        169 

instrument  which  they  have  deep  down  in  their 
throat.  For  they  do  not  produce  their  sounds  as 
we  do,  just  below  the  back  of  the  mouth,  but  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  windpipe,  just  where  it  divides  into 
two  branches,  one  going  to  each  lung.  There,  where 
the  rush  of  the  air  is  strongest,  is  found  a  complicated 
apparatus,  moved  by  a  whole  set  of  muscles,  upon 
which  the  little  fellow  plays,  and  seems  never  to  be 
exhausted,  so  much  air  has  he  in  all  parts  of  his 
body.  And  as  the  song  pours  through  the  windpipe 
there  again  he  can  help  to  give  it  its  soft  mellow  tones, 
for  while  in  hoarse-crying  birds,  like  the  sea  birds  and 
the  waders,  this  tube  is  long  and  stiff,  in  the  sweet 
singing  birds  it  is  short,  and  the  bony  rings  com- 
posing it  are  thin  and  far  apart,  with  soft  delicate 
membrane  between  them,  which  can  be  shortened 
or  lengthened  to  modulate  the  tones.  And  so  we 
hear  them  in  the  springtime  pouring  forth  their  full 
tide  of  song  to  tempt  a  young  wife  to  come  and 
help  them  to  build  a  nest ;  or,  in  the  full  pleasure  of 
success,  trilling  out  their  delight  in  the  warm  bright 
sunshine,  and  calling  on  all  the  world  to  be  as  happy 
as  they. 

Yet  it  is  not  by  any  means  all  the  perching 
birds  which  have  this  wonderful  gift  of  song.  Even 
among  our  own  birds,  the  jay,  the  crow,  the  raven, 
and  others,  use  their  musical  instrument  for  talk- 
ing in  a  way  that  is  no  doubt  useful  to  them,  but 
scarcely  pleasant  to  hear ;  and  in  America  there  is 
a  whole  group  of  songless  perching  birds — the  bright 
coloured  chatterers,  the  fly-catching  tyrant-birds,  the 
American  ant -thrushes,  which  have  not  even  deve- 
loped a  true  singing  instrument  in  their  throat,  and 


i/o  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

only  utter  shrill  or  bell -like  cries.  Yet  they  all 
build  nests  and  cherish  their  helpless  young  ones  ; 
and  so  large  and  varied  is  the  group  of  perching 
birds,  whether  in  the  Old  or  New  World,  that  they 
fill  all  the  stray  nooks  and  corners  of  bird-life,  often 
imitating  the  habits  of  the  other  smaller  groups  so 
as  to  get  at  food  of  all  kinds.  Thus,  while  the 
Finches  with  their  delicate  matted  nests,  the  Warblers, 
and  a  large  number  of  the  smaller  birds,  lead  a  true 
tree  and  bush  life,  feeding  on  fruits  and  insects,  the 
Thrushes,  Blackbirds,  Crows,  Redbreasts,  and  Larks 
are  ground- feeders,  which,  though  they  do  not  scratch 
with  their  feet  like  the  partridges,  turn  up  the  ground 
with  their  bills  and  pick  out  the  worms  and  grubs. 

For  this  reason  the  Song-thrushes  love  to  build 
their  nest  of  twigs  and  moss  lined  with  soft  wood 
chips,  in  some  thick  hedge  near  to  a  meadow  or  garden, 
where  they  can  drop  down  and  pull  up  the  unfortu- 
nate worms  before  they  have  gone  home  under- 
ground after  their  nightly  rambles,  or  pounce  upon 
unwary  snails,  and,  taking  them  in  their  beak,  crack 
the  shell  upon  a  stone,  and  carry  off  the  dainty 
morsel  to  their  brood  ;  while  the  Lark,  with  her  long 
hind  toe,  so  well  fitted  for  walking,  hides  her  nest  in 
a  furrow  on  the  ground  ;  and  the  greedy  cunning 
Magpie,  feeding,  as  she  often  does,  on  young  animals, 
seems  to  fear  the  same  fate  for  her  own  brood,  and 
builds  a  large  egg-shaped  dome  of  thorny  branches, 
with  the  thorns  sticking  out  on  all  sides,  and  lined 
with  mud  and  soft  roots,  leaving  only  a  small  hole 
for  a  door.  Lastly,  the  sagacious  Rooks,  though 
ground-feeders,  build  strong  homes  which  last  from 
year  to  year,  in  the  top  of  the  high  elms,  and 


GRO  UND-FEEDING  NES  T  B  UILDERS.         1 7 1 

set  out  in  companies  in  the  early  morning  to  their 
feeding  grounds. 

Fig.  45- 


•^> 
Nest  of  the  Common  Wren.* 

Then,  as    there   are   ground -feeders   among  the 

*  Troglodytes  parvulus. 


172  THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

perchers,  so,  too,  there  are  climbers,  for  the  Creepers, 
the  Wryneck,  and  the  Nuthatch,  run  up  and  down  the 
trees,  feeding  on  insects  and  nuts,  which  the  nuthatch 
breaks  so  cleverly  with  his  beak ;  and  we  might  almost 
fancy  them  to  be  first  cousins  to  the  woodpeckers,  if  it 
were  not  for  their  three  toes  in  front  and  long  claw 
behind,  and  their  short  thick  beak  and  tail.  Even 
the  little  Wren,  with  her  cocked-up  tail,  imitates  the 
climbers  as  she  creeps  through  the  hedges  and  under- 
wood, though  she  is  a  true  perching  bird,  and  builds 
one  of  the  most  perfect  of  nests  of  moss  and  grass, 
woven  into  the  shape  of  a  ball,  with  a  tiny  hole  for 
a  door.  Then,  to  match  the  darting  birds,  we  have 
the  Swallow  and  the  Fly  Catcher  which  follow  insects 
on  the  wing,  so  that  the  swallow  and  swift  were 
long  confounded  together,  though  the  skeleton  of 
the  swallow  shows  that  it  belongs  to  perching  birds. 
Again,  the  Shrike  imitates  the  birds  of  prey,  feeding 
on  small  mice,  reptiles,  and  birds,  and  impaling  them 
upon  a  sharp  thorn  while  he  tears  them  to  pieces 
with  his  beak.  Yet  he  is  a  true  percher,  singing 
as  beautifully  as  many  of  the  smaller  birds,  and  he 
is  even  said  to  use  his  power  of  song  to  lure  victims 
within  reach.  Lastly,  and  perhaps  most  curious  of 
all,  the  little  Dipper  or  Water-Ouzel,  with  his  clear 
loud  song,  and  his  structure  so  like  to  the  thrushes, 
has  actually  taken  to  the  habits  of  water-birds,  and 
dives  into  the  depths  of  the  river,  running  along 
upon  the  bottom  and  feeding  on  water- snails  and 
water-insects. 

All  these  we  find  among  English  birds  ;  and  if 
we  had  space  to  speak  of  other  countries,  we  should 
find  the  same  history  there,  for  the  more  we  study 


NEST  BUILDING. 


173 


Fig.  46. 


bird-life  the  more  we  find  that  these  Perchers  are 
its  highest  types,  and  have  learned  to  make  the 
most  of  their  kingdom.  It  is  they  who  build  the 
most  perfect  nests,  from  the  rough  strong  basket- 
work  of  the  crow  or  the  magpie,  to  the  wren's 
thickly-woven  ball,  or  the  finches* 
matted  cups  ;  while  in  America 
the  Hang-nests  weave  their  lovely 
pear-shaped  homes,  and  suspend 
them  like  fruit  from  the  tips  of 
the  branches  ;  and  in  India  and 
China  the  Tailor-birds  actually 
sew  leaves  together  with  cotton 
fibre  or  cobweb  threads,  which 
they  draw  through  with  their 
slender  bill  and  strengthen  with 
saliva. 

The  smaller  the  bird  and 
the  more  delicate  its  feet  and 
bill,  the  more  closely  woven,  as 
a  rule,  is  its  nest.  Yet  all  are 
built  with  care ;  the  mother  bird, 
as  a  rule,  choosing  the  position 
and  laying  the  twigs,  while  the 
father  helps  her  to  collect  the 
materials.  So  rapidly  do  these  f 
little  creatures  work,  that  among 
our  smaller  English  birds  the  Nest  of  the  Tailor-Bird  * 

of  India  or  China. 

early  morning  sees  the  work  be- 
gun, and  by  evening  it   is  ended.      Other  birds  are 
longer,  according   to  the   amount  of  material   they 
have  to  collect ;  but  all  labour  industriously  till  the 

*  Orthotomus  sutorius. 


174  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S 

cradle  is  finished,  and  then  begins  the  laying,  the 
sitting,  the  tender  care  of  the  mother  for  her  little 
ones,  and  of  the  father  for  his  wife  and  brood. 

And  indeed  there  is  much  need  both  of  skill  in' 
nest  building  and  of  watchfulness  for  many  a  long 
day  after,  for  if  the  perchers  are  the  highest,  they  are 
not  by  any  means  the  strongest  of  birds  ;  and  while 
they  feed  on  insects  and  smaller  creatures,  they  have 
to  guard  their  little  ones  with  anxious  care  against 
the  larger  birds  of  prey  which  rule  as  masters  in 
the  higher  regions  of  the  air.  It  is  on  rocky  pinnacles 
and  in  the  clefts  of  inaccessible  heights  among  the 
mountains  that  we  must  look  for  the  nests  of  the 
Eagle,  the  Vulture,  and  the  Falcon.  Strong,  powerful, 
and  untiring  in  flight,  they  sail  majestically  high  up 
in  the  air,  not  to  sing  a  joyful  song  like  the  lark,  but 
with  piercing  eye  to  search  every  corner  for  miles 
around,  for  animals  of  all  sizes,  from  the  dead  ox 
or  mule  to  the  tiny  living  mouse  or  bird,  which  can 
serve  for  a  meal. 

It  needs  only  a  glance  at  them  to  see  that  they 
are  strong  destroyers,  with  their  powerful  wings,  their 
sharp  hooked  beaks,  their  long  toes  with  pointed 
claws,  and  their  strong  muscular  thighs  ;  and  because 
most  men  admire  strength  and  power,  we  call  such 
birds  noble,  though  their  nobility  chiefly  consists  in 
loving  their  little  ones,  and  asking  neither  pity  nor 
shelter  from  others,  as  they  themselves  are  pitiless  in 
return.  Those  which  we  are  apt  to  like  the  least, 
the  carrion -feeding  Vultures  of  hot  countries,  are 
really  the  most  useful  and  harmless,  for  they  feed 
chiefly  on  dead  animals  and  clear  the  land  of  carrion  ; 


BIRDS  OF  PREY. 


'75 


and  for  this  reason  neither  their  beak  nor  their  claws 
are  as  strong  as  those  of  the  fighting  birds.      But 
though  they  are  grand  in  flight  they  are  but  repulsive- 
Fig-  47- 


The  Eagle  bringing  food  to  its  young. — (From  a  coloured  lithograph 
by  Keulemann.} 

looking  birds  when  compared  with  the  lordly  eagles. 
The  beautiful  Golden  Eagle  of  Europe,  with  its  dark 


i;&  THE  WIENNRS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

plumage  and  the  golden  sheen  on  its  back  and  tail, 
is  indeed  a  splendid  object,  as 

"  He  clasps  the  crag  with  hooked  hands, 
Close  to  the  sun  in  lonely  lands," 

or  still  more,  as  he  sweeps  along  with  steady  flight, 
circling  round  and  glancing  with  searching  eye  over 
the  plain  beneath.  Suddenly  his  attitude  changes  ; 
he  closes  his  wings,  and,  head  downwards,  drops  to 
earth  slantingwise  with  a  rushing  noise,  seizing  in  his 
claws  the  startled  fawn  as  it  dashes  by  at  full  speed, 
the  frolicking  rabbit  darting  into  its  hole,  or  the 
terrified  bird  upon  whom  his  choice  has  fallen.  Then, 
with  a  powerful  stroke  he  rises  up  again,  and  is  lost 
to  sight  as  he  soars  aloft  and  regains  the  rocky 
peak  where  his  eyrie  is  built  and  his  children  are 
clamouring  for  food. 

So,  too,  the  dexterous  Falcon  swoops  upon  his 
prey  swift  as  an  arrow,  his  pointed  wings  striking 
the  air,  and  then  closing  at  once  upon  his  body, 
while  his  long  rounded  tail  guides  him  in  his  flight. 
Who  would  think  that  such  a  powerful  and  bold 
robber  could  have  anything  in  common  with  the  soft 
feathered  owl  which  sits  blinking  its  large  eyes  in 
the  hollow  of  the  tree  till  the  twilight  falls  ?  And 
yet  the  Owl,  with  very  little  change  in  structure, 
has  become  as  fitted  to  follow  prey  at  night  as  the 
falcon  is  by  day — 

"  What  time  the  preying  owl,  with  sleepy  wing, 
Sweeps  o'er  the  cornfield,  studious." 

The  soft,  round,  broad  wings,  which  would  serve 
badly  for  striking  a  quarry  from  on  high,  are  exactly 
fitted  for  gliding  in  the  silence  of  the  night,  as,  guided 
by  wide  open  eye  and  ear,  he  skims  over  the  fields 


MIGRA  TION  OF  BIRDS.  177 

or  round  the  stacks  in  the  yard  to  pounce  noise- 
lessly upon  the  unwary  mouse  or  to  seize  the  flying 
beetles  and  bats.  Then  the  sharp  claws  appear 
quickly  from  under  the  downy  feathered  feet,  and 
clutch  the  smallest  prey  with  needle-like  precision  ; 
and  away  the  owl  flies  to  his  nest,  so  quietly  that  even 
the  other  animals  close  by  are  not  alarmed,  but  in 
ignorant  security  remain  till  he  comes  to  strike  again. 

And  as  the  day  and  the  night  by  land  have  their 
relentless  freebooters,  so  the  sea  too  has  its  eagle 
king  ;  for  the  Osprey,  with  its  nest  on  a  high  rock, 
hovers  over  the  open  sea,  and,  dashing  into  the  deep, 
returns  with  a  large  fish  in  its  claws  ;  and,  as  it  tears 
the  flesh  from  under  the  glittering  scales,  reminds  us 
that  there  is  no  spot  on  the  earth  in  which  some  bird 
does  not  seek  its  prey. 

We  have  now  in  very  brief  outline  followed  the 
feathery  tribe  from  the  flightless  penguin  to  the 
boldly-soaring  eagle,  the  king  of  the  air.  Those 
feathers  which  in  the  swimming  bird  are  scarcely 
more  than  finely-divided  scales,  and  in  the  ostrich 
mere  loose  nodding  plumes,  have  become  in  the 
albatross,  the  vulture,  and  the  soaring  falcon,  flying 
instruments  of  such  power  and  strength  that  the 
earth  and  the  water  are  as  nothing  to  them  com- 
pared with  the  free  ocean  of  air  ;  while  even  the  tiny 
graceful  swallow  flies  for  hundreds  of  miles  to  its 
winter  home. 

Indeed,  we  have  here  one  of  the  great  secrets  of 
bird  success ;  for  while  most  animals  must  roam  within 
limited  districts,  and  get  their  food  there  as  best  they 
can,  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  birds  set  off, 
when  the  colder  weather  makes  food  scarce  in  any 


178  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

one  region,  and  travel  hundreds  of  miles  to  more 
genial  climates,  where  insects  are  still  to  be  found, 
and  the  trees  are  still  covered  with  fruit  and  leaves. 
How  strange  it  is  to  think  that  while  we  are  making 
the  best  of  our  winter,  the  swallow  has  taken  her 
unerring  flight  to  Africa,  the  swans  and  cranes  have 
long  since  made  their  southward  journey,  and  myriads 
of  small  birds  have  gone  in  search  of  food  and 
warmth,  to  return  next  spring  as  certainly  to  their 
old  haunts,  where  they  can  breed  in  cool  and  com- 
fortable quarters ! 

If  we  could  only  get  the  birds  to  tell  us  how  they 
have  learned  the  routes  they  take,  and  by  what  rules 
they  are  guided  !  One  thing  we  know,  that  each 
kind  of  bird  makes  its  nest  in  the  coldest  region 
which  it  visits,  and  where,  at  the  time  its  young 
brood  are  ready,  insect  and  other  life  is  abundant ; 
so  that  while  the  wild  duck  and  goose,  the  wood- 
cock, snipe,  and  field-fare,  go  to  the  far  north  to  lay 
their  eggs,  and  come  to  us  in  the  sharper  weather 
to  feed  when  there  is  nothing  but  ice  and  snow  in 
the  home  they  have  left,  the  swallow,  the  cuckoo,  the 
swift,  and  the  wheatear,  on  the  other  hand,  visit  us 
in  the  spring  to  build,  and  when  autumn  comes  on 
take  their  flight  to  Africa  and  the  East ;  and  even 
many  of  the  song-thrushes  and  robin-redbreasts  which 
remain  with  us  in  England  start  off  from  Germany 
to  warmer  climates.  Others,  again,  such  as  some 
of  the  Reed-warblers,  the  Stint,  and  the  Ortolan 
Bunting,  only  make  our  island  a  house  of  call  between 
the  arctic  regions  where  they  breed  in  the  summer 
when  mosquitoes  are  swarming  there,  and  the  south 
where  they  winter  after  flying  thousands  of  miles. 


BIRD  LIFE.  179 

It  would  take  too  long  to  discuss  here  why  and 
how  they  go,  even  if  we  knew  it  with  certainty  ;  but 
it  is  most  probable  that  their  ancestors  first  learned 
the  routes  now  taken  when  Europe  and  Africa  had 
not  so  wide  a  sea  between  them,  and  we  can  see  that 
it  must  be  a  great  advantage  to  be  able  to  travel 
from  climate  to  climate,  so  as  to  find  a  plentiful 
table  spread  at  all  times  of  the  year  ;  while  they 
may  return  to  the  north  to  breed,  not  merely  because 
there  is  food  there,  but  also  because  in  still  earlier 
times,  when  the  northern  countries  were  much  warmer 
than  they  are  now,  they  doubtless  lived  there  alto- 
gether, and,  though  now  obliged  to  go  south,  have 
never  lost  the  tradition  of  their  old  home. 

Thus  the  birds,  with  their  feathery  covering  and 
powerful  wings,  have  left  their  early  friends,  the 
reptiles,  far  far  behind.  Taught  by  their  many 
dangers,  many  experiences,  and  many  joys,  they 
have  become  warmhearted,  quickwitted,  timid  or 
bold,  ferocious  or  cunning,  deliberate  as  the  rook, 
or  passionate  as  the  falcon,  according  to  the  life  they 
have  to  lead  ;  or,  in  the  sweet  tender  emotions  of 
the  little  song-birds,  have  learned  to  fill  the  world 
with  love  and  brightness  and  song.  If  mere  enjoy- 
ment were  all  that  could  be  desired  in  life,  where 
could  we  expect  to  find  it  better  than  in  the  light- 
hearted  skylark  as  she  rises  in  the  early  summer 
morning  to  trill  forth  her  song  of  joy,  or  in  the 
happy  chuckle  of  the  hen  as  her  little  ones  gather 
around  her. 

Yet  we  cannot  but  feel  that,  happy  as  a  bird's 
life  may  be,  it  still  leaves  something  to  be  desired  ; 
and  that,  with  their  small  brain  and  their  front 


i8o  THE  WINNERS  IN  LI  FES  RACE. 

limbs  entirely  employed  in  flying,  they  cannot  make 
the  highest  use  of  the  world.  The  air  they  have 
conquered  ;  and  among  the  woods  and  forests,  over 
the  wide  sea,  and  above  the  lofty  mountains,  they 
lead  a  busy  and  happy  existence,  bringing  flying 
creatures  to  their  highest  development,  and  showing 
how  Life  has  left  no  space  unfilled  with  her  children. 
Yet,  after  all,  it  is  upon  the  ground,  where  difficulties 
are  many,  conditions  varied,  and  where  there  is  so 
much  to  call  for  contrivance,  adaptation,  and  intelli- 
gence, that  we  must  look  for  the  highest  types  of  life  ; 
and  while  we  leave  the  joyous  birds  with  regret,  we 
must  go  back  to  the  lower  forms  among  the  four- 
footed  animals,  in  order  to  travel  along  the  line  of 
those  that  have  conquered  the  earth  and  prepared 
the  way  for  man  himself. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  MAMMALIA    OR    MILK-GIVERS. 

THE  SIMPLEST  SUCKLING  MOTHER,  THE  ACTIVE  POUCH-BEARERS, 
AND  THE  IMPERFECT-TOOTHED  ANIMALS. 

OUR  backboned  animals  have  now  travelled  far  along 
the  journey  of  life.  The  fish,  in  many  and  varied 
forms,  have  taken  possession  of  the  seas,  lakes,  and 
rivers  ;  the  amphibiay  once  large  and  powerful,  now 


182  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

/ 

in  small  and  scattered  groups,  fill  the  swamps  and 
the  debateable  ground  between  earth  and  water  ;  the 
reptiles,  no  longer  masters  of  the  world,  but  creepers 
and  skirmishers  still  holding  their  own  in  many 
places  either  by  agility,  strength,  or  the  use  of 
dangerous  weapons,  swarm  in  the  tropics,  and  even 
in  colder  countries  glide  rapidly  along  in  the  warm 
sunshine,  or  hide  in  nooks  and  crannies,  and  sleep 
the  winter  away.  And  the  dirdsy — the  merry, 
active,  warmhearted  birds, — live  everywhere,  mak- 
ing the  forests  echo  with  their  song,  rising  into  the 
heights  of  the  clear  atmosphere,  till  the  world  lies  as 
a  dim  panorama  below  them,  crowd  the  water's  edge 
with  busy  fluttering  life,  and  even  wander  for  days 
and  weeks  over  the  pathless  ocean,  where  nothing 
is  to  be  seen  but  sky  and  water. 

Yet  still  the  great  backboned  division  is  not  ex- 
hausted ;  on  the  contrary,  the  most  powerful  if  not 
the  most  numerous  group  is  still  to  come ;  that 
group  which  contains  the  kangaroos  and  opossums, 
the  dreamy  sloths,  the  night-loving  moles  and  hedge- 
hogs, the  gentle  lemurs  and  the  chattering  monkeys, 
the  whales,  seals,  and  walruses  for  the  water  ;  the 
herds  of  wild  cattle  and  antelopes,  of  noble  elephants 
and  fleet  horses,  for  the  forests,  mountains,  and  plains; 
and  the  ferocious  beasts  of  prey,  which  make  these 
gentler  animals  their  food ;  while  last,  but  not  least, 
comes  man  himself,  the  master  and  conqueror  of  all. 

Where,  then,  shall  we  look  for  the  beginning  of 
this  vast  multitude  of  warm-blooded,  hairy,  and  four- 
limbed  animals  ?  If  we  turn  back  to  the  past,  we 
get  but  little  help ;  for  though  in  that  early  time, 
when  huge  reptiles  overran  the  world  and  swam  in 


EARLIEST  KNO  WN  MILK-GIVERS.  183 

the  waters,  we  find  small  animals  (see  Fig.  48),  pro- 
bably of  the  marsupial  or  pouched  family,  living  in 
the  forests,  yet  even  if  these  were  the  earliest  of  their 
race,  which  is  not  at  all  likely,  they  would  tell  us  very 
little  about  the  beginning  of  the  milk-givers,  since  only 
their  lower  jaws  remain,  and  we  can  only  guess  at 
their  relationship  by  these  having  that  peculiar  inward 
bend  which  we  still  find  in  all  pouched  animals. 

No  !  for  the  few  scattered  facts  about  the  lowest 
mammalia  or  milk-giving  animals  we  must  inquire 
of  our  own  day,  to  learn  something  as  to  the  causes 


A,  Jaw  of  Dromatherium  ;  B,  Tooth  of  Microlestes  ;  both  milk- 
givers,  probably  marsupials,  found  in  beds  of  the  same  age  as  those 
containing  the  ancient  swimming  lizards. 

of  their  success  in  life.  And  first  let  us  notice  two 
important  changes  which  give  them  an  advantage 
over  other  backboned  creatures.  We  have  seen  that, 
as  we  have  gradually  risen  in  the  scale  of  Life, 
parents  have  taken  more  and  more  care  of  their 
eggs  and  their  young  ones.  Among  the  boneless 
animals  which  we  studied  in  Life  and  her  Children, 
it  was  not  (with  very  few  exceptions)  till  we  reached 
the  clever,  industrious,  intelligent  insects,  that  we 
found  them  taking  any  thought  for  the  weak  and 
helpless  infants.  There  we  did  find  it,  for  insects 
in  their  own  peculiar  line  stand  very  high  among 
animals  ;  when,  however,  we  turned  back  again  to 


1 84  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

begin  with  the  first  feeble  representatives  of  the 
backboned  family,  we  found  the  fish  casting  their 
eggs  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  or  on  the  pebbly 
gravel  of  a  flowing  stream,  and,  as  a  rule,  taking  no 
more  thought  of  them.  The  tiny  stickleback  with 
his  nest,  and  the  lumpsucker  watching  over  his  young 
ones,  were  quite  exceptions  among  the  finny,  tribe. 
So  it  was  again  with  the  frogs,  so  with  the  reptiles 
(the  turtles,  lizards,  and  snakes),  whose  eggs,  even 
when  carefully  buried  by  the  mother,  are  often 
devoured  by  thousands  before  the  little  ones  have 
a  chance  of  creeping  out  of  the  shell.  But  when  we 
come  to  the  birds,  there,  as  with  the  insects,  we  find 
parental  care  beginning — the  nest,  the  home,  the 
feeding,  the  education  in  flying,  in  singing,  in  seeking 
food,  the  warm-hearted  love  which  will  risk  death 
sooner  than  forsake  the  little  ones. 

Yet  still  these  same  little  ones  have  many  perils 
to  run  even  before  they  break  through  the  shell.  In 
spite  of  their  parents'  care,  more  eggs  probably  are 
eaten  by  snakes  or  weasels,  field-rats,  and  other 
creatures,  than  remain  to  be  hatched  ;  while,  even  if 
they  escape  being  devoured,  the  eggs  must  not  be 
allowed  to  grow  cold  ;  and  should  the  parents  be  too 
long  away  or  be  scared  off  the  nest  by  some  enemy,  or 
should  a  damp  cold  season  spoil  the  warm  dry  home, 
the  young  bird  is  killed  in  the  egg  before  it  has  ever 
seen  the  light. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see,  therefore,  that  if  the 
mother  could  carry  the  egg  about  with  her  till  the 
little  bird  was  born,  as  we  found  our  little  common 
lizard  doing  (see  p.  105),  it  would  be  much  safer  than 
when  left  in  the  nest  exposed  to  so  many  dangers. 


ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  MAMMALIA.         185 

Now  something  of  this  kind  takes  place  with  all 
that  great  group  of  animals  we  are  going  to  study. 
The  cat  and  the  cow,  as  we  all  know,  do  not  lay  eggs 
as  birds  do  ;  but  the  mother  carries  the  young  within 
her  body  while  they  are  going  through  all  the 
changes  which  the  chicken  goes  through  in  the  egg. 
Thus  they  go  wherever  she  goes,  the  food  which  she 
takes  feeds  them,  and  they  lie  hidden,  safe  from 
danger,  till  they  are  born,  perfectly  formed,  into  the 
world.  Nor  is  this  all ;  for  when  at  last  her  little 
ones  see  the  light,  the  mother  has  nourishment  ready 
for  them  ;  part  of  the  food  which  she  herself  eats  is 
turned  into  milk,  and  secreted  by  special  glands,  so 
that  the  newly-born  calf  or  kitten  is  suckled  at  its 
mother's  breast  till  it  has  strength  to  feed  itself. 

These  two  advantages,  then, — namely,  that  the 
young  have  no  dangerous  egg-stage,  but  are  sheltered 
by  their  mother  till  they  are  perfect,  and  that  their 
mother  has  milk  to  give  them  for  food, — at  once 
divide  the  Mammalia  or  milk-giving  group  of  animals 
from  the  rest  of  the  backboned  family. 

But  how  will  this  help  us  to  learn  where  that 
great  group  begins  ?  Is  it  possible  that  such  crea- 
tures as  these  can  have  anything  in  common  with 
reptiles  and  birds  ?  To  answer  these  questions  we 
must  travel  to  a  part  of  the  world  which  has  long 
been  separated  from  the  great  continents  of  Europe, 
Asia,  Africa;  and  America,  and  where  the  low  and 
feeble  milk-giving  animals  had  a  chance  of  still 
keeping  a  place  in  the  world. 

Take  a  map  and  look  at  Australia,  New  Guinea, 
and  Tasmania,  and  you  will  see  that  they  are  sepa- 
rated by  a  number  of  scattered  islands  from  the 


x86  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

great  continents,  which  are  not  only  large  in  them- 
selves, but  are  all  nearly  joined  together,  with  only 
narrow  straits  dividing  them.  Moreover,  Australasia 
stands  even  more  alone  than  appears  at  first  sight ; 
for  Mr.  Wallace  has  pointed  out  that  a  very  deep 
sea  separates  New  Guinea  and  Australia  on  the  one 
hand  from  Borneo  and  China  on  the  other ;  so  that 
the  land  might  rise  several  thousand  feet,  and  yet 
the  Australasian  islands  would  not  be  joined  to  the 
great  continents. 

Now,  if  the  milk-givers  once  had  feeble  beginnings, 
and  gradually  branched  out,  as  the  ages  went  on, 
into  all  the  many  forms  now  living,  it  is  clear  that 
on  the  great  battlefield  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and 
America,  the  first  poor  weak  forms  would  gradually 
be  destroyed  by  the  stronger  ones  that  overran  these 
great  continents.  They  would  be  crushed  out,  as  so 
many  of  the  reptiles  and  newts  and  fishes  had  been 
before  them  ;  and  only  their  bones,  if  any  remained, 
would  tell  us  that  they  had  once  lived.  But  if  some 
of  them  could  find  a  refuge  in  a  domain  of  their 
own,  where  after  a  time  they  had  a  good  open  sea 
between  them  and  their  stronger  neighbours,  they 
might  have  a  chance  of  living  on  and  keeping  up 
the  old  traditions. 

And  this  is  just  what  we  have  reason  to  believe 
has  been  their  history  ;  for  it  is  exactly  in  Australasia 
that  we  find  that  curious  group  of  pouched  animals, 
the  kangaroos  and  other  Marsupials?  as  they  are 
called,  which  are  different  from  all  the  other  milk- 
giving  animals  in  the  world,  except  the  opossums  of 
America,  whom  we  shall  speak  of  by-and-by. 

*  Marsupiumt  a  pouch. 


THE  DUCK-BILLED  PLATYPUS.  187 

And  together  with  these  marsupials  we  also  find 
the  simplest  milk-giving  animals  now  living.  Come 
with  me  in  imagination  to  a  quiet  creek  in  one  of 
the  rivers  of  East  Australia.  It  is  a  bright  summer 
day,  and  the  lovely  acacias  are  hanging  out  their 
golden  blossoms  in  striking  contrast  to  the  tall  grace- 
ful gum-trees  and  dark  swamp  oaks  in  the  plain 
beyond.  Come  quietly,  and  do  not  brush  the  reeds 
growing  thickly  on  the  bank  ;  for  the  least  noise  will 
startle  the  creature  we  are  in  search  of,  and  he  will 
dive  far  out  of  sight.  There  he  is,  gently  paddling 
along  among  the  water  plants.  His  dark  furry 
body,  about  a  foot  and  a  half  long,  with  a  short 
broad  tail  at  the  end,  makes  him  look  at  first  like 
a  small  beaver.  But  why,  then,  has  he  a  flat  duck's 
bill  on  the  tip  of  his  nose,  with  a  soft  fold  or  flap  of 
flesh  round  it,  with  which  he  seems  to  feel  as  he  goes  ? 
Again,  he  has  four  paws,  with  which  he  is  paddling 
along ;  but  though  these  paws  have  true  claws  to 
them,  they  have  also  a  thick  web  under  the  toes, 
stretching,  in  the  front  feet  (C  Fig.  50),  far  beyond 
the  claws,  yet  loose  from  them,  so  that  while  it  serves 
for  swimming  it  can  be  pushed  back  when  the 
animal  is  digging  in  the  ground.  His  hind  feet 
have  a  much  shorter  web,  and  a  sharp  spur  behind, 
like  that  of  a  game  cock. 

And  now,  as  this  animal  turns  his  head  from  side 
to  side  you  can  see  his  sharp  little  eyes,  but  not  his 
ears,  for  they  are  small  holes  which  he  can  close 
quite  tightly  as  he  works  along  in  the  water,  push- 
ing his  bill  into  the  mud  of  the  bank,  just  as  a  duck 
does,  and  drawing  it  back  with  the  same  peculiar 
jerky  snap  ;  for  he  too  has  ridges  in  his  beak  like 


188 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


the  duck  family,  through  which  he  sifts  his  food  ; 
while,  at  the  same  time,  he  has  in  his  mouth  eight 
horny  mouth-plates,  peculiar  to  himself. 

What,   then,    is   this    four-footed   animal   with    a 
beaver's  fur  and  tail,  and  teeth  in  his  mouth,  and  yet 

Fig.  49. 


The  Duck-billed  Platypus  *  swimming  and  rolled  up,  with  its 
underground  nest  laid  open  behind ;  on  the  right  hand  bank  is  an 
Echidna,  t 

with  a  duck's  bill   and  webbed   feet  ?       He   is   the 
lowest  and  simplest  milk-giving  animal  we  know  of 
in   the  world — the  duck-billed   Platypus  or  Ornitho- 
rhynchus,  called  by  the  settlers  the  Water-mole. 
If  we  could  search  along  the  bank  we  should  find, 

*  Ornithorhynchus  paradoxus.  "f*  Echidna  hystrix. 


THE  LOWEST  KNOWN  MILK-GIVER. 


189 


somewhere  below  the  water's  edge,  a  hole,  and  again,  a 
few  feet  back  on  the  land,  another  among  the  grass 
and  reeds  ;  and  both  of  these  lead  into  a  long  passage, 
which  ends  in  a  snug  underground  nest — a  dark  hole 
lined  with  dry  grass  and  weeds — where  in  the  summer 
time  (about  December)  we  should  find  the  mother 
platypus,  with  two  or  four  tiny  naked  young  ones, 
not  two  inches  long,  cuddled  under  her.  How  these 


Fig.  50. 


little  ones  begin 
life  we  do  not  know. 
The  natives  talk 
about  finding  soft 
eggs  like  those  of 
reptiles  ;  but  it 
seems  more  likely 
that  these  eggs 
break  just  as  they 
are  laid,  like  those 
of  our  common  liz- 
ard (see  p.  105), 
and  the  naked  little 
ones  come  out  alive 
into  the  nest. 

A,   Head  of  Ormthorhynchus,    showing 
And     how     are    serrated  bill;   B,   Hind  foot  with  claw  a 


Their    found  on  the  males  only '»  c»  Webbed  fore 
foot. 


they  fed  ? 
mother  has  no  teat, 
like  the  cow,  to  put  into  their  mouth,  for  she  is 
a  very  primitive  creature  ;  only  in  one  spot  amid 
her  fur  are  a  number  of  little  holes,  and  from  these 
she  can  force  out  milk  for  them  to  drink  as  they 
press  against  her  with  their  soft  flat  bills.  So  here, 
in  a  dark  underground  nest,  away  from  the  world, 
because  she  cannot,  like  the  higher  animals,  carry 


i9o  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

her  little  ones  till  they  are  perfect,  the  duck-billed 
platypus,  which  may  well  be  called  "  paradoxical " 
(see  Fig.  49),  enables  us  to  picture  to  ourselves  how, 
in  ages  long  gone  by,  mothers  first  began  to  feed 
their  little  ones  with  their  own  milk. 

And  now,  perhaps,  you  will  be  struck  by  this 
animal's  likeness  to  a  bird,  especially  when  you  hear 
that  the  little  baby  water -moles  have  a  soft  horny 
knob  on  their  nose,  just  where  young  birds  have 
a  hard  knob  for  breaking  through  the  shell ;  and 
you  will  ask  if  milk -giving  animals  came  from 
birds.  Not  at  all ;  young  tortoises,  too,  have  such 
a  knob,  and  so  have  crocodiles  ;  and,  moreover,  these 
duck-billed  moles  have  many  parts  of  their  skeleton, 
especially  the  shoulder  bone  and  the  separate  bones 
of  the  skull,  very  like  our  living  reptiles,  and  still 
more  like  some  which  lived  in  ages  long  gone  by.* 
And  yet  at  the  same  time  they  differ  essentially  both 
from  reptiles  and  birds  in  many  points  besides  those 
we  have  been  able  to  mention,  and  in  one  in  parti- 
cular, which  we  can  understand  now  we  have  studied 
these  groups,  namely,  that  the  platypus,  like  all  milk- 
giving  animals,  is  without  that  curious  quadrate  bone 
(g,  Figs.  2  3  and  3  3)  which  we  find  in  all  reptiles  and 
birds. 

Now,  notice  the  frog,  which  is  an  amphibian  and 
therefore  lower  than  the  reptiles,  has  not  got  this  quad- 
rate bone,  though  his  companions  the  newts  have  ; 
and  he  seems  to  tell  us  that  among  those  old  amphi- 
bians which  roamed  in  the  coal-forests  of  ages  past, 

*  Professor  Owen  has  described  a  reptile  from  the  Trias  of  Africa, 
and  Professor  Cope  another  from  the  Permian  of  Texas,  both  having 
characters  closely  resembling  the  Platypus. 


ORIGIN  OF  MAMMALIA.  191 

there  must  have  been  some  which, — while  they  had 
that  great  mass  of  cartilage  which  imperfect,  unborn, 
milk-giving  animals  have  even  now,  out  of  part  of 
which  this  bone  is  formed, — yet  never  went  so  far  as 
to  have  the  bone  itself.  If  this  is  so,  then  here  at  last, 
in  the  distant  past — so  remote  that  we  cannot  even 
guess  how  long  ago  it  may  have  been — we  have  a 
point  from  which  the  earliest  ancestors  of  the  milk- 
giving  animals  may  have  gone  off  in  one  direction,  and 
those  of  reptiles  and  birds  in  another.  And  this  would 
explain  how  it  is  that  they  have  so  many  points  in 
common,  while  yet  the  mammalia  are  without  that 
special  bone  and  other  characters  which  are  found 
both  in  reptiles  and  birds.* 

Be  this  as  it  may,  here  is  our  lowest  mammalian 
form,  and  he  has  a  relation,  the  Echidna,  very  like  him 
in  many  respects,  but  who  has  made  a  decided  step 
forward  ;  for  on  the  sandy  shores  and  in  the  rocky 
gorges  of  Australia,  creatures  about  a  foot  long,  covered 
with  prickly  spines  like  hedgehogs,  and  called  by  the 
settlers  "  Porcupine  Ant-eaters  "  (see  Fig.  49),  shuffle 
along  in  the  twilight,  thrusting  out  their  long  thin 
tongues  from  the  small  mouth  at  the  end  of  their 
beak-like  snout,  and  feeding  on  ants  and  ants'  eggs. 
These  do  not  belong,  however,  to  the  real  ant-eater 
family,  but  are  near  relations  to  the  platypus  ;  and 
they  are  well  protected  by  their  spines  in  the  battle  of 

*  This  argument,  which  can  only  be  stated  very  roughly  here,  must 
not  be  supposed  to  rest  merely  on  the  quadrate  bone,  though  this  is  the 
easiest  point  to  illustrate  popularly.  I  am  deeply  indebted  to  Mr. 
W.  Kitchen  Parker  for  a  whole  flood  of  light  thrown  on  these  early 
forms,  and  only  regret  that  I  have  neither  skill  nor  space  to  do  justice 
to  his  graphic  illustration  of  a  subject  of  which  he  is  pre-eminently 
master. 


192  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

life,  for  when  attacked  they  either  roll  themselves  up 
into  a  ball  like  a  hedgehog,  or  burrow  down  into  the 
sand  so  fast  that  they  seem  to  sink  into  it,  leaving 
only  the  points  of  their  prickles  sticking  out  to  pierce 
the  feet  of  their  enemy.  Now  these  creatures  have  a 
little  fold  of  skin  under  their  body,  which  forms  two 
little  pouches  over  the  milk-giving  holes,  and  the  little 
echidna  when  very  tiny  is  put  into  this  pouch,  and 
keeps  its  head  there  while  its  body  grows  larger  and 
sticks  out  beyond.  In  this  way  the  Echidna  can 
carry  her  child  about  with  her,  and  she  only  turns  it 
out  to  shift  for  itself  when  its  prickles  are  hard  and 
sharp. 

You  see,  then,  that  though  we  began  with  the 
simplest  known  milk -giving  animal,  we  are,  in  the 
Echidna,  already  fairly  on  our  way  to  the  curious 
pouched  creatures  of  Australia,  the  "  Marsupials," 
which,  instead  of  a  small  fold,  have  indeed  a  large 
pouch  of  skin,  into  which  they  put  their  little  ones 
when  they  are  less  than  two  inches  long,  and  so  im- 
perfect that  their  legs  are  mere  knobs,  and  they  can 
do  nothing  more  than  hang  on  to  the  nipple  with  their 
round  sucking  mouths  as  if  they  had  grown  to  it. 

There  the  little  ones  hang  day  and  night,  and 
their  mother  from  time  t  '  time  pumps  milk  into 
their  mouth,  while  they  breathe  by  a  peculiar 
arrangement  of  the  windpipe,  which  reaches  up  to 
the  back  of  their  nose.  Then,  as  they  grow,  the 
pouch  stretches,  and  by-and-by  they  begin  first  to 
peep  out,  and  then  to  jump  out  and  in,  and  feed  on 
grass  as  well  as  their  mother's  milk.  For  a  long 
time  they  take  refuge  in  the  pouch  whenever  there 


MARSUPIALS. 


193 


is  any  danger  or  they  are  tired,  and  Professor  Owen 
has  suggested  that  this  curious  pouch  arrangement 
may  be  of  great  use  in  a  country  where  water 
is  often  so  far  to  seek' that  the  little  ones  could  not 
travel  to  it  unless  the  mother  could  carry  them. 


Australian  Marsupials. 

Kangaroos  ;  a  flying  Phalanger  ;  and  the  Kaola  or  native  Bear,  with 
a  young  one  on  its  back. 

Now  this  race  of  pouched  animals  we  find  spread- 
ing all  over  a  land  where  they  had  none  of  the  higher 
four-footed  animals  to  dispute  the  ground  with  them, 
for  there  are  no  ordinary  land  mammalia  in  Aus- 


194  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

tralia,  except  bats,  which  could  fly  thither  ;  mice  and 
rats,  which  could  be  carried  on  floating  wood,  and 
a  fierce  native  dog,  the  Dingo,  which  was  probably 
brought  by  the  earliest  native  settlers  long  after  the 
marsupials  had  spread  and  multiplied.  And  what  is 
more,  though  we  find  the  bones  of  marsupials  of  all 
sizes  buried  in  the  rocks  of  Australia,  some  of  them 
as  large  as  elephants,*  showing  that  these  creatures 
too  had  their  time  of  greatness,  we  do  not  find 
those  of  ordinary  mammalia.!  It  would  seem,  then, 
that  for  long  ages  the  pouched  animals  had  the 
field  to  themselves,  and  they  made  good  use  of  it, 
filling  all  the  different  situations  which  in  other 
parts  of  the  world  are  filled  by  ordinary  four-footed 
creatures. 

On  the  plains,  mountains,  and  red  stony  ridges 
are  the  long-legged  Kangaroos  every  child  knows  so 
well  in  the  Zoological  Gardens.  There  they  browse 
upon  the  grass  and  leaves  as  our  cattle  do  in  Europe, 
and  some  of  them,  such  as  the  great  gray  Kanga- 
roo, {  grow  to  be  as  much  as  five  feet  high,  and 
can  make  a  good  fight  even  against  the  fierce 
dingo  dog,  hugging  him  in  their  arms  and  ripping 
him  up  with  the  strong  nail  of  the  long  middle 
toe  of  their  hind  foot,  which  answers  in  them  to  the 
hoofs  of  our  cattle  and  deer.  And  yet  they  are 
peaceable  enough  unless  attacked,  as  they  lurk  among 
the  tall  ferns  and  grass,  and  will  far  rather  leap  away 
than  turn  and  attack  an  enemy.  Others  are  much 

*  Diprotodont. 

f  The  only  exceptions  to  this  are  a  tooth  and  a  piece  of  a  tusk  of  one 
of  the  ancient  elephants,  lately  found  in  Australia,  showing  that  a  few 
straggling  forms  of  mammalia  probably  reached  that  country  in  Tertiary 
times.  £  Macropus  giganteus. 


HERBIVOROUS  MARSUPIALS.  195 

smaller,  such  as  the  Kangaroo  Rats,  which  feed  on 
roots  and  grasses,  one  of  them,  the  Tufted -Tailed 
Kangaroo-Rat,*  biting  off  tufts  of  grass  and  carry- 
ing them  in  his  tail  to  make  a  soft  nest  to  sleep  in; 
while  the  Tree  Kangaroos  f  of  New  Guinea  live  in 
the  trees,  feeding  on  the  leaves  and  jumping  from 
bough  to  bough. 

All  these,  from  their  long  hind  legs  and  jumping 
movements,  we  should  recognise  at  once  ;  but  the 
plump  furry  Wombat  (see  Fig.  52)  looks  more  like 
an  ordinary  four-footed  animal,  as  it  wanders  by 
night  burrowing  and  gnawing  the  roots  of  plants. 
So  too  do  the  tree- climbing  animals,  the  Kaola  or 
tailless  bear  (Fig.  51),  which  often  carries  its  young 
one  on  its  back,  and  the  beautiful  Phalangers  or 
"  Australian  Opossums,"  which  live  in  hollow  trees 
and  come  out  on  moonlight  nights  to  feed  upon  the 
leaves,  hanging  from  the  boughs  by  their  long  pre- 
hensile tails.  Yet  all  these  animals  have  a  pouch 
for  their  young,  and  while  the  long -tailed  furry 
Phalangers  play  the  part  of  the  fruit-eating  monkeys 
in  a  land  where  monkeys  have  probably  never  been, 
another  group  of  them,  the  "  Flying  Phalangers " 
(Fig.  5  i),  with  a  membrane  stretching  between  their 
front  and  hind  legs,  represent  the  flying  squirrels,  and 
live  at  the  very  top  of  the  gum  trees,  feeding  on 
leaves  and  flowers,  and  taking  flying  leaps  with  their 
limbs  outspread. 

These  are  all  vegetable-feeders ;  and  they  leave 
plenty  of  room  for  the  little  insect-feeders,  the  Myr- 
mecobius,  with  its  long  bushy  tail,  and  the  Bandicoots 
or  rabbit-rats,  which  feed  partly  on  bulbs  and  roots, 

*  Hypsiprymnus  penicillatus.  t  Dendrolagus. 


196  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

and  more  often  on  insects,  grubs,  and  even  small  mice 
and  vermin. 

But  where  are  the  animal-eaters  ?  Surely  here, 
as  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  some  of  the  group 
have  taken  to  feeding  on  their  neighbours  ?  There 
are  very  few  carnivorous  animals  in  Australia,  and 
these  are  small,  though  fierce,  and  feed  chiefly  on 
rats  and  mice  ;  yet  the  bones  of  huge  marsupials, 
with  long  pointed  teeth,  found  in  the  rocks,  tell  us 
that  dangerous  animals  were  once  there  before  they 
were  driven  out,  probably  by  the  Dingo  and  savage 
man.  And  when  we  get  to  Tasmania,  where  no 
Dingos  are  found,  there  the  flesh-eating  marsupials 
still  live,  as  fierce  as  any  wolves  and  wild  cats  of 
Europe,  and  still  they  are  pouch-bearers.  Slim  and 
elegant  as  the  fierce  and  furry  Tiger-wolf  (Fig.  52) 
looks  as  he  courses  over  the  Tasmanian  plains  in 
search  of  prey,  yet  the  mother  carries  her  young  in 
a  pouch  like  the  gentler  wombat  or  the  powerful 
kangaroo  ;  and  so  does  the  mother  of  the  Native 
Devil  or  Tiger-cat  (Fig.  5  2),  which  is  so  fierce  that 
even  the  natives  are  afraid  of  it  when  it  turns 
at  bay,  and  it  will  attack" and  devour  large  sheep, 
though  it  is  only  the  size  of  a  terrier  dog. 

We  see,  then,  that  the  marsupials  in  a  world  of 
their  own,  cut  off  by  the  sea  from  the  struggling 
world  beyond,  play  all  parts  in  life  ;  and  squirrels, 
monkeys,  insect-eaters,  gnawing  animals,  hoofed 
animals,  and  beasts  of  prey,  all  have  their  parallel 
among  the  pouch-bearers.  But  just  because  they  are 
so  isolated  it  becomes  a  curious  question  why,  when 
we  travel  right  across  the  wide  Atlantic  or  Pacific 
to  America,  we  find  another  set  of  pouched  animals 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MARSUPIALS. 


197 


slightly  different  but  belonging  to  the  same  group. 
How  comes  it  that  the  clever  little  opossums  of 
Guiana,  Brazil,  and  Virginia  (see  Fig.  53,  p.  200), 
which  grasp  the  trees  with  the  free  nailless  great  toe 
of  their  hind  feet  and  hang  by  their  long  tails,  should 
be  marsupials,  carrying  their  little  ones  in  pouches, 


•P 


Tasmanian  Marsupials. 

The  two  to  the  left  of  the  picture  are  Wombats;*  the  front  right 
hand  figure  the  Tasmanian  Devil;  f  and  the  background  figure  the 
Tasmanian  Wolf.J 

when  all  their  relations  are  thousands  of  miles  away 
over  the  sea  ? 

Stop  a  moment,  and  let  us  go  back  to  those  times 
when  the  marsupials  were  living  with  the  great  flying 
reptiles  in  Europe  and  North  America.  These  forms 

*  Phascolomys. 


Dasyurus. 


Thylacinus. 


198  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

(see  p.  1 83)  were  like  the  little  myrmecobius  now  living 
in  Australia,  and  at  some  period,  we  do  not  know 
exactly  when,  their  descendants  must  have  found  their 
way  to  that  part  of  the  world,  where  they  have  since 
branched  out  into  so  many  curious  forms,  gnawing, 
leaping,  running,  and  flying,  and  filling  the  place  of 
ordinary  quadrupeds.  But  they  must  also  have 
lived  on  in  the  Northern  Hemisphere  and  branched 
out  into  other  forms  ;  for  much  later,  when  tigers  and 
other  ferocious  beasts  had  begun  to  prowl  about  in 
the  forests  of  Europe  and  America,  opossums  were 
leaping  in  the  trees,  as  we  know  by  finding  their 
bones  in  Suffolk,  under  Paris,  and  in  North  America. 
And  so  we  see  that  when  these  opossums  found  their 
way  down  south  to  Brazil  and  Guiana,  the  simile  that 
we  used  a  little  while  ago  (p.  131)  probably  became 
literally  true,  and  the  Australian  and  South  Ameri- 
can pouched  animals  are  related  to  each  other,  not 
because  they  come  one  from  the  other,  but  because 
they  both  come  from  the  same  very  ancient  stock 
which  once  lived  in  Europe. 

This  would  explain  how  these  active,  furry,  little 
beings  of  all  sizes,  from  that  of  a  good-sized  cat  to  a 
rat,  come  to  be  sporting  among  the  leaves  of  the  grand 
forests  of  Brazil  or  on  the  edges  of  the  Virginian 
swamps,  sleeping  during  the  day  in  the  hollow  trees, 
and  prowling  by  night  over  the  plantations,  and  among 
the  rice-fields  feeding  on  fruit  and  seeds,  worms  and 
insects,  and  even  on  young  birds  and  rats.  On  the 
ground  they  walk  heavily,  with  flat  feet,  but  in  the 
trees  they  swing  from  bough  to  bough  (see  Fig.  53), 
the  little  ones  curling  their  tails  round  that  of  their 
mother  and  clinging  to  her  back  as  she  goes.  Some 


SOUTH  AMERICAN  ANIMALS.  199 

of  these  opossums  have  even  lost  the  pouch,  and  put 
their  little  ones  at  once  on  to  the  thick  fur  of  their  back 
as  soon  as  they  come  out  of  their  snug  nests  in  the 
tree-hollows.  They  seem  to  have  a  happy  time  of  it, 
these  merry  tree-climbers,  and  know  well  how  to  swing 
out  of  danger,  or  to  feign  death  if  they  cannot  escape, 
so  that  "  'cute  as  a  'possum  "  is  a  common  American 
proverb.  One  kind,  living  in  the  swamps  of  Guiana, 
feeds  almost  entirely  on  crabs,  while  another,  called 
the  Yapock,  has  webbed  feet  and  dives  under  water, 
feeding  on  fish  and  other  water-animals. 

But  here  another  question  presents  itself.  How 
is  it  that  these  curious  pouched  animals  have  lived 
on  in  America  as  well  as  in  Australia  when  they  have 
been  killed  off  in  Europe  and  Asia  ?  The  answer 
to  this  is  not  far  to  seek*  if  we  remember  that 
geology  teaches  us  that  there  have  been  many 
changes  of  land  and  sea  in  past  times,  for  the  neck 
of  land  which  joins  South  America  to  North  America 
is  very  low  and  narrow,  and  a  change  of  level  of 
scarcely  more  than  2000  feet  would  break  it  up  into 
islands  ;  and  as  we  know  that  such  changes  have 
taken  place  in  past  geological  times,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  once  this  neck  was  partially  under  the  sea,  and 
South  America,  like  Australia,  was  a  huge  continental 
island,  where  the  lower  animals  might  struggle  on  and 
become  settled,  before  the  higher  ones  poured  in  to 
interfere  with  them. 

Indeed,  if  the   opossums   did    not  teach  us  this 
history,  we  might  learn  it  from  another  singularly  old- 
fashioned  race  of  animals,;  for  in  the  same  Brazilian 
forests  in  which  our  little  opossums  are  sporting,  the 
10 


200 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


dreamy  Sloth,  with  his  long  arms,  short  legs  with  the 
knees  bent  outwards,  and  long  thick  hair  drooping 
over  his  eyes,  is  hanging  back  downwards  from  the 
boughs  ;  while  the  strange  Ant-bear  is  tearing  open 
the  ant-hills  with  his  strong  bent  claws  in  the  damp 
earth  below,  and  licking  up  the  insects  with  his  long 

Fig.  53- 


South  American  pouched  animal,  the  Opossum  ;*  and  imperfect-toothed 
animals — Sloth,  f  Ant-bear, £  and  Armadillo.  § 

sticky  tongue  ;  and  the  Armadillo,  whose  back  is 
covered  with  bony  shields  like  the  crocodile,  issues 
out  of  his  burrow  at  night  to  dig  for  worms  or  roots 
or  buried  animals.  We  may  look  all  the  world  over 

*  Didelphis.  f  Cholcepus.  J  Mymecophaga.  §  Dasypus. 


SOUTH  AMERICAN  ANIMALS.  201 

and  we  shall  not  find  another  group  so  strange  and 
old-fashioned  as  this  one,  nor  even  any  creatures  of 
their  kind,  except  the  ant-eaters  of  the  Cape  and  the 
scaly  Manises  of  Africa  and  India,  which  also  live, 
as  you  will  notice,  upon  continents  which  jut  out 
into  the  water,  and  not  on  the  great  northern  mass 
of  land. 

In  many  ways  these  curious  animals  (Edentata]  of 
South  America  and  Africa  are  more  singular,  though 
not  of  so  ancient  a  race,  as  the  "  pouch-bearers." 
Many  of  them,  the  American  ant-bears  and  the  African 
Pangolins,  are  quite  toothless,  and  those  which  like 
the  sloth  have  teeth,  have  very  imperfect  ones  more 
like  the  teeth  of  reptiles  than  those  of  marsupials  ; 
again,  their  feet  have  the  toes  much  joined  together, 
and  the  sloths  have  only  three  toes  on  the  hind  feet 
and  sometimes  two  only  on  the  front,  and  the  joints 
of  their  neck  are  irregular  in  number.  t  Thus  we  see 
in  them  that  variability  of  structure  which  always 
points  to  a  low  order  of  animals  ;  and,  moreover,  the 
armadilloes  are  the  6nly  milk-giving  animals  which 
are  covered  with  bony  plates  like  reptiles. 

What,  then,  is  the  history  of  these  old-fashioned 
animals  ?  Much  the  same  as  that  of  the  marsupials, 
so  far  as  we  can  read  it  ;  for  at  the  same  time  that 
opossums  were  living  in  Europe,  strange  animals, 
with  imperfect  rootless  teeth,  and  toes  with  immense 
claws,  bent  inwards  like  the  claws  of  the  ant-eaters, 
were  wandering  over  France  and  Greece,  where  we 
now  find  their  bones.  Then  a  little  later  we  find, 
on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  in  North  America, 
other  huge  imperfect -toothed  creatures,  which  lived, 
died,  and  were  buried  in  the  mud  ;  and  lastly,  in 


202 


THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


South  America,  still  later,  we  find  whole  skeletons 
of  gigantic  sloth-like  animals  the  size  of  elephants,* 
which  had  not  yet  such  long  arms  as  the  Sloth  of 
to-day,  but  walked  on  four  feet  upon  the  ground  and 
browsed  upon  the  trees,  while  huge  armadillo-like 
creatures,!  with  solid  bony  shields  covering  their 

FiS-  54- 


African  imperfect-toothed  animals — Aard-Vark  or  Cape  Ant-eater  in 
the  background,  and  scaly  Man  is  or  Pangolin  in  the  foreground. 

backs,  wandered  in  the  vast  forests  and  lived  on 
animal  food.  Making  use  of  these  facts,  then,  can- 
not we  picture  to  ourselves  how  these  large  unwieldy 
creatures,  with  their  stiff  bent  claws  and  their  weakly 
teeth,  which  if  once  broken  or  lost  could  not  be 
replaced  by  a  second  set,  were  no  match  for  the 

*  Megatherium.  t  Glyptodon. 


'SURVIVAL  OF  EDENTATA.  203 

large  tigers,  bears,  and  other  beasts  of  prey  which 
were  roaming  over  Europe  and  Asia  ;  while  those,  on 
the  contrary,  which  found  their  way  from  North  to 
South  America,  and  were  cut  off  from  the  crowded 
world,  just  as  the  marsupials  were,  might  live  on  and 
fill  the  land  with  large  creepers  and  burrowers.  In 
the  old  world  the  same  would  probably  happen  in 
Africa,  where  the  sea  certainly  flowed  at  one  time 
over  the  low-lying  desert  of  Sahara  ;  and  so  the 
Cape  Ant-eater  and  the  Pangolin,  both  so  different 
from  their  American  relations,  would  keep  their  place 
in  the  world. 

This  would  explain  how  they  gained  a  firm  foot- 
ing ;  but  the  next  question  is  how  they  kept  it, 
when  jaguars  and  pumas  began  to  roam  over  America, 
and  lions  and  panthers  over  Africa  ?  Now,  if  we  in- 
quire into  the  history  of  the  Aard-Vark  or  great  Cape 
ant-eater,  which  is  in  many  ways  much  more  like  the 
American  armadilloes, — for  he  has  like  them  teeth  in 
the  back  of  his  mouth,  and  walks  flat-footed,  though 
he  has  a  thick  skin  and  bristles  instead  of  armour, — 
we  find  that  he  is  a  very  timid  animal,  and  lives  almost 
entirely  underground,  only  venturing  out  at  night  to 
scratch  open  the  ant-hills  with  his  strong  claws,  so 
that  he  may  thrust  his  long  sticky  tongue  into  the  ant- 
galleries  to  draw  it  back  covered  with  food.  Even 
then  he  never  ventures  far  from  his  hole,  so  we  can 
easily  conjecture  that  it  is  by  concealment  that  he 
has  escaped  destruction. 

Still  more  would  the  Pangolins  flourish,  for  though 
they  are  toothless  and  walk  very  clumsily,  because 
their  front  feet  are  bent  under  so  that  they  tread  on 
the  upper  part,  yet  they  have  two  means  of  protec- 


204  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

tion.  First,  like  the  ant-eater,  they  live  chiefly 
underground  and  come  out  at  night ;  and  secondly, 
their  back  is  covered  with  sharp-edged  scales,  which 
grow  from  the  skin  as  hairs  do,  and  can  be  raised 
into  a  complete  cheval-de-frise  as  they  roll  themselves 
up,  or  tuck  their  tail  and  head  between  their  legs 
when  they  are  attacked.  Thus  protected,  the  scaly 
ant-eaters  not  only  flourish  in  Africa,  but  have  even 
kept  their  ground  in  India,  China,  and  Ceylon. 

In  America,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find  that  the 
armadilloes  have  gone  strangely  back  to  the  bony 
armour  of  the  reptiles  or  the  ancient  Labyrintho- 
donts,  and  have  shields  on  their  backs  and  heads 
formed  of  skin -plates  exactly  like  those  of  the 
crocodile,  so  that  the  only  delicate  part  of  their 
body  is  the  under  side,  which  is  kept  close  to  the 
ground.  When  we  see  how  well  they  are  protected, 
and  also  remember  that  they  are  extremely  quick  bur- 
rowers  and  can  get  out  of  the  way  of  dangerous  ene- 
mies, while  they  feed  on  vegetables,  insects,  and  dead 
creatures,  we  see  why  the  plains  and  forests  of  South 
America  should  abound  in  armadilloes  of  all  sizes, 
from  the  Great  Armadillo,  as  large  as  a  moderate- 
sized  pig,  to  the  little  Pichiciago,  not  larger  than  a  rat. 

It  would  be  more  difficult  to  understand  how 
the  great  hairy  Ant-bear*  (p.  200),  with  his  twisted 
feet,  united  toes,  and  toothless  tube-like  snout,  has 
managed  to  live  on  in  the  dense  forests  of  South 
America,  if  we  did  not  know  that  he  is  immensely 
strong,  and  his  sharp  claws  and  the  deadly  hug  of 
his  muscular  arms  are  avoided  even  by  large  animals, 
while  the  small  American  Ant-eaters  f  live  chiefly  in 

*  Myrmecophaga  jubata.  t  Tamandua. 


SOUTH  AMERICAN  ANT-BEAR.  205 

the  trees,  feeding  on  bees,  termites,  and  honey.  A 
strange  fellow  is  the  great  ant-bear  as  he  wanders  at 
night  slowly  and  heavily  along  the  river-banks,  his 
long  bushy  tail  sweeping  .behind  him  and  his  head 
bent  low  ;  or,  if  it  be  a  mother,  she  may  be  carrying 
her  little  one  clinging  to  her  back,  or  pause  to  hold 
it  in  her  long  arms  as  it  sucks.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
by -and -by  the  ant-bear  reaches  a  group  of  nests 
of  termites  (wrongly  called  white  ants),  looming 
six  feet  high  in  the  dark  night ;  at  once  the  sharp 
claws  are  at  work  tearing  the  hill  to  pieces,  though 
they  are  so  strongly  built  that  men  have  to  open 
them  with  a  crowbar,  and  as  the  alarmed  termites 
rush  out,  the  long  sticky  tongue  wanders  among 
them  and  they  are  drawn  into  the  ant-bear's  mouth 
by  thousands.  Yet  the  ant-bear  has  his  enemies, 
for  it  may  be  that  in  his  night-walk  he  may  come 
across  the  fierce  jaguar  in  search  of  prey. 

Now,  D'Azara,  the  great  traveller,  doubted  the 
stories  of  the  natives  when  they  said  that  the  ant-bear 
could  kill  the  jaguar,  but  Mr.  Cumberland,  who  has 
lived  much  in  South  America  and  has  himself  killed  the 
ant-bear,  assures  me  that  the  animal  is  quite  a  match 
for  such  a  wild  beast.  The  muscles  of  his  shoulder 
and  arms  are  tremendous,  the  claws  so  hard  and  strong 
and  sharp  that  when  once  stuck  in  they  never  lose 
their  hold,  and  the  ant-bear  when  attacked  stands  up 
and  gives  a  death-hug  so  dreadful  that  the  natives 
never  dare  to  come  to  close  quarters  with  him. 
Moreover,  he  is  very  difficult  to  kill.  Mr.  Cumberland, 
by  the  help  of  his  dog  and  man,  caught  and  disabled 
one  of  these  creatures  so  as  to  tie  his  legs  together 
and  keep  him  stunned,  but  his  skull  was  so  hard  that 


206  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

repeated  blows  with  heavy  quartz  rock  on  his  nose, 
the  most  vulnerable  point,  only  succeeded  in  stunning 
him,  and  his  skin  was  so  tough  that  an  ordinary  small 
dagger-knife  made  no  impression  whatever.  With- 
all  their  efforts  they  could  not  put  the  poor  animal 
to  death  till  the  following  morning,  when  they  could 
get  a  strong  and  sharp  knife  to  butcher  him.  Such 
a  creature  as  this  need  scarcely  fear  a  jaguar  or  any 
beast  of  moderate  size. 

Such,  however,  is  not  the  case  with  the  dull- 
looking  hairy  forms  which  move  among  the  tall 
cecropia  trees  above  the  ant-bear's  head  ;  for  the 
sloths,  though  busy  enough  in  the  trees,  would  fare 
but  badly  if  they  were  condemned  to  live  upon  the 
ground.  The  sloth  is  surely  one  of  the  most  curious 
examples  of  how  an  animal  may  live  and  flourish  by 
taking  to  a  strange  way  of  life.  We  have  seen  (p. 
202)  how  his  ancestors,  the  Megatheriums,  walked 
upon  the  ground,  while  he  himself  was  formerly 
pitied  by  all  travellers  because  his  arms  are  so  long 
in  comparison  with  his  legs  that  if  he  wants  to 
walk  he  has  to  drag  himself  along  upon  his  elbows, 
and  while  the  ankles  of  his  hind  feet  are  so  twisted 
that  he  can  only  rest  on  the  side  of  the  foot.  But 
then  they  forgot  that  he  seldom  or  never  descends 
to  the  ground,  for  the  buds  and  leaves  of  the  trees 
are  his  food,  and  they  are  so  juicy  that  he  does  not 
need  to  come  down  to  drink,  and  when  he  is  in  his 
natural  place  in  the  trees  he  is  no  longer  helpless. 

There,  safe  from  prowling  animals  on  the  ground 
below,  he  hangs  like  a  hammock  from  the  bough. 
The  long  fingers  of  his  hand  (in  some  sloths  two,  in 
others  three,  in  number)  and  the  three  toes  of  his 


ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  SLOTH.  207 

twisted  hind  feet,  all  armed  with  long  claws,  seize  the 
branch  like  grappling  irons  ;  while  his  long  flexible 
neck,  which  in  one  kind  of  sloth  has  more  joints  than 
in  other  mammalia,  enables  him  to  look  over  his 
shoulder  and  take  a  wide  survey  around.  In  the 
daytime  he  sleeps  with  his  back  in  the  fork  of  a 
branch  and  his  head  bent  forward  on  his  chest,  but 
as  the  sun  goes  down  he  rouses  to  life  and  feeds 
by  stretching  out  those  long  arms  to  tear  the  leaves 
and  twigs,  which  he  stuffs  into  his  mouth  and  chews 
with  his  few  back  teeth.  He  has  no  need  to  hurry 
or  disturb  himself,  for  his  long  thick  hair  protects 
him  from  insects  ;  and  from  the  very  fact  of  his  being 
fitted  for  a  tree-life  he  is  safe  from  other  animals 
except  snakes,  and  even  they  do  not  find  him  out 
easily,  so  like  is  his  dull  matted  hair  to  the  colour  of 
the  bark  and  moss.  Even  the  young  ones  run  very 
few  risks,  for  they  are  not  born  till  they  are  perfect, 
and  then  the  baby  sloth  clings  to  its  mother's  hair, 
and  goes  with  her  wherever  she  travels,  sucking  till 
it  is  old  enough  to  hang  on  to  a  bough  and  feed 
itself.  So  they  live  a  completely  tree-life,  and  sleepy 
as  they  seem,  yet  they  can  move  quickly  enough 
when  they  wish  ;  and  they  often  take  advantage  of  a 
time  when  the  wind  is  blowing  so  that  the  branches 
from  tree  to  tree  sway  against  each  other,  and  by 
seizing  the  boughs  as  they  touch,  pass  along  and 
find  new  feeding-grounds. 

We  see,  then,  that  while  the  duck-billed  water- 
mole  and  the  echidna  have  found  a  comparatively 
peaceful  home  in  Australia,  where  the  pouched 
animals  have  reigned  as  monarchs,  and  still  hold 
their  own  in  spite  of  the  animals  brought  in  by  man  ; 


208  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

and  while  the  opossums,  by  taking  to  a  tree-life, 
revel  in  the  forests  of  America  :  so  the  imperfect- 
toothed  animals,  an  old  and  antiquated  race  of 
Life's  children,  still  remain  in  a  few  scattered  forms 
by  reason  of  their  power  to  adapt  themselves  to 
peculiar  conditions  of  life.  What  they  may  have  been 
in  olden  times  we  can  scarcely  guess  ;  but  one  thing 
is  certain,  namely,  that  before  such  strangely  different 
forms  as  the  sloth,  the  ant-eater,  the  manis,  and  the 
armadillo  could  each  have  settled  down  and  taken 
on  their  special  protective  armour  and  habits,  many 
others  must  have  tried,  flourished  awhile,  and  died  out. 
When  we  look  at  the  bones  of  the  gigantic  Ground- 
sloths  or  Megatheriums  of  olden  times,  which  walked 
on  four  feet  and  are  supposed  to  have  lived  by 
tearing  the  trees  up  by  the  roots  and  feeding  on 
the  branches,  or  when  we  examine  the  huge  shield 
of  the  monster  Glyptodon,  and  find  that  it  had  no 
movable  bands  between  the  plates  such  as  enable 
the  armadillo  to  burrow  with  ease,  or  in  some  kinds 
to  roll  up  in  a  ball,  we  see  that  it  is  not  always 
size  and  strength  that  win  in  the  battle  of  life  ;  but 
that  the  sloth  of  to-day  has  probably  lived  on  because, 
in  taking  refuge  in  the  trees,  it  has  secured  great 
advantages  by  those  peculiarly  long  arms  and  twisted 
feet  for  which  men  used  to  pity  it ;  while  the  ant- 
eaters  and  armadilloes  in  their  underground  homes, 
and  the  pangolins  rolled  up  into  prickly  balls,  show 
that  passive  resistance  and  retiring  habits,  especially 
if  fortified  by  a  thick  skin,  are  sometimes  quite  as 
useful  in  the  struggle  for  existence  as  fierce  passions 
and  aggressive  weapons. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

FROM  THE  LOWER  AND  SMALLER  MILK -GIVERS 
WHICH  FIND  SAFETY  IN  CONCEALMENT,  TO 
THE  INTELLIGENT  APES  AND  MONKEYS. 

HAVING  now  taken  leave  of  the  curious  pouch- 
bearers  and  the  strange  primitive  sloths  and  arma- 
dilloes,  we  find  ourselves  left  to  deal  with  an 


210  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

immense  multitude  of  modern  mammalia,  which  have 
spread  in  endless  variety  over  the  earth,  and  which 
may  be  divided  into  five  great  groups — the  Insecti- 
vora  or  insect-eaters  ;  the  Rodents  or  gnawers  ;  the 
climbing  and  fruit -eating  Lemurs  and  Monkeys  ; 
the  Herbivora  or  large  vegetable -feeding  animals  ; 
and  the  Carnivora  or  flesh -eaters. 

All  these  groups  are  very  distinct  now,  and  we 
naturally  turn  back  to  ancient  times  to  ask  how 
they  first  started  each  upon  their  own  road.  But 
when  we  do  this,  we  meet  with  a  history  so  strange 
that  it  makes  us  long  to  open  the  great  book  of 
Nature  .still  further,  and  by  ransacking  the  crust  of 
the  earth  in  all  countries  to  try  and  find  the  explana- 
tion, which  will  no  doubt  come  some  day  to  patient 
explorers.  The  history  is  this.  We  saw  in  the  last 
chapter  that  in  those  far  distant  ages,  when  even 
reptiles  were  only  beginning  to  spread  and  multiply 
by  land  and  sea,  and  when,  although  birds  probably 
existed,  still  they  did  not  as  yet  leave  any  traces 
behind,  small  milk-giving  and  insect-eating  animals, 
the  Microlestes  and  Dromatherium  (see  p.  183),  were 
already  living  upon  the  earth,  and  left  their  teeth 
and  jaws  in  the  ground. 

Now,  as  ages  passed  on  and  the  reptiles  increased 
in  strength,  these  little  milk-giving  animals  evidently 
flourished,  for  though  we  have  not  yet  discovered 
any  of  their  bones  in  the  rocks  of  the  Chalk  Period, 
yet  as  we  find  them  both  before  and  after  that  time, 
they  must  have  lived  on  in  some  part  of  the  world, 
the  rich  vegetation  and  abundant  insect  life  affording 
them  plenty  of  food.  Meanwhile  the  huge  reptiles, 
of  kinds  now  long  extinct,  reigned  over  land  and  sea 


EXTINCTION  OF  THE  LARGE  REPTILES.    211 

and  air,  and  were  in  the  height  of  their  glory, — when 
suddenly  there  comes  a  blank  and  their  history  ends. 
When  we  look  again,  "  a  change  has  come  o'er  the 
spirit  of  the  dream,"  and  in  the  next  period  we  find 
their  bones  no  more.  From  that  time  we  meet  only 
with  the  four  groups  of  lizards,  snakes,  tortoises,  and 
crocodiles,  which  still  survive  ;  and  the  place  of  the 
swimming,  flying,  and  walking  reptiles  is  taken  by 
four-footed  and  milk-giving  animals. 

Some  of  these  were  still  marsupials  like  those 
that  had  gone  before  ;  others  were  of  strange  forms, 
distantly  related  to  them  ;  others  were  curious 
ancestral  forms  of  our  hyaenas  and  bears,  dogs  and 
civets,  horses  and  tapirs,*  in  which  the  characters 
which  distinguish  these  groups  were  not  so  distinct 
as  they  are  now,  while  others  again  were  old  forms 
of  moles,  hedgehogs,  squirrels,  bats,  and  lemurs.  In 
what  part  of  the  world,  then,  had  all  these  been 
growing  up,  that  we  come  upon  them  so  suddenly  ? 
Before  the  seas  of  the  chalk  only  the  small  mar- 
supials ;  after  them,  when  the  areas  of  land  began 
to  increase  in  extent,  a  whole  army  of  milk-givers, 
so  different  from  each  other  and  so  well  adapted 
for  their  lives,  that  we  even  find  among  them  such 
peculiar  forms  as  whales,  with  their  arms  con- 
verted into  paddles,  and  bats  with  their  arms  act- 
ing as  wings. 

What  an  idea  this  gives  us  of  the  immense 
period  of  time  that  must  have  elapsed  while  the 
chalk  was  forming,  the  reptiles  becoming  extinct, 
and  the  mammalia  taking  their  place  ! 

We   have   had    a   hint  of  this  before,  when   we 

*  For  a  few  of  these  forms  see  the  picture-heading,  p.  209. 


212  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

learned  in  Life  and  her  Children  how  infinitely 
minute  the  shells  are  of  which  chalk  is  made,  and 
what  enormous  thicknesses  remain  of  the  chalk-beds. 
And  now  we  find  these  facts  strengthened  by  the 
great  changes  which  then  took  place  in  the  animal 
world,  for  even  if  (as  is  likely)  older  forms  of  these 
large  milk -givers  existed  in  earlier  times,  and  we 
have  not  yet  found  them,  yet  there  are  such  great 
differences  between  whales,  bats,  dogs,  and  lemurs, 
that  our  imagination  stands  appalled  at  the  time 
required  to  account  for  them. 

Again,  where  are  the  traces  of  all  the  forms  which 
must  have  existed  between  the  little  marsupials  and 
this  great  army  of  four-footed  beasts  ?  At  present 
no  one  can  answer.  Forty  years  ago  we  knew 
nothing  even  of  those  early  marsupials,  and  people 
said  there  were  no  milk-giving  animals  until  after  the 
time  when  the  chalk  was  formed.  Now  a  few  jaws 
have  told  us  that  milk-givers  had  been  already  in 
the  world  for  ages  ;  and  it  may  be  that  before  forty 
years  more  have  passed,  some  child  now  reading 
these  lines,  and  following  in  the  footsteps  of  such 
patient  explorers  as  Beckles  and  Gaudry,  or  the 
American  naturalists  Leidy,  Cope,  Marsh  and  others, 
who  have  such  a  grand  field  before  them,  may 
discover  bones  which  will  unravel  the  history  of  that 
crowd  of  mammalia  which  now  seems  to  start  up 
like  Cadmus'  army  from  the  ground. 

But  for  the  present  we  can  only  begin  with  them 
as  we  find  them  immediately  after  the  Chalk  Period, 
and  a  strange  motley  group  they  appear.  There, 
roaming  among  the  palms,  evergreens,  screw-pines 
and  tree-ferns,  which  flourished  in  Europe  and 


COMING-IN  OF  THE  MAMMALIA.  213 

North  America  in  those  warmer  times,  were  beasts 
larger  than  oxen,  with  teeth  partly  like  the  tapir, 
partly  like  the  bear,  and  feet  like  the  elephant,* 
which  may  have  been  both  animal  and  vege- 
table feeders.  With  them  were  true  vegetarians, 
which  could  be  called  neither  rhinoceroses,  horses, 
nor  tapirs,  but  had  some  likeness  to  each.f  Others, 
half -pigs  half -antelopes,  were  thick-skinned,  but 
graceful  and  two-toed,!  while  a  little  fellow  no 
bigger  than  a  fox,§  with  five  toes  on  his  front  feet 
and  three  behind,  the  ancestor  of  our  horses,  grazed 
in  the  open  plains.  There  too,  moles,  hedgehogs, 
and  dormice  had  already  begun  to  make  their 
underground  homes,  and  squirrels  and  lemurs  sprang 
about  the  trees  of  the  forest,  where  bats  roamed  at 
night  in  search  of  insects.  Nor  was  this  life  with- 
out its  dangers,  for  beasts  of  prey,  half-bears  half- 
hyaenas,  ||  were  there  to  feed  upon  their  neighbours, 
and  with  them  a  creature  half-dog  half-civet,1f  with 
several  other  carnivorous  animals  with  feeble  brains 
and  partly  marsupial  characters,**  and  lastly  a  large 
flat-footed  dog-bear, ft  something  between  a  dog,  a 
cat,  and  a  bear,  with  a  very  small  brain  but  plenty 
of  teeth,  represented  the  most  primitive  flesh-eating 
animal  known  to  us. 

None  of  these  forms  were  of  the  same  species  as 
those  now  living,  and  many  of  them,  as  we  see,  had 
characters  which  we  now  find  in  two  or  three  differ- 
ent animals ;  showing  that  they  had  not  yet  specialised 
the  various  weapons  of  attack  and  defence,  and  the 

*  Coryphodon.  t  Paleotherium  and  Anoplotherium. 

J  Xiphodon.  §  Eohippus.  ||   Hysenarctos. 

IT  Cynodon.  **  Hyaenodon  and  others.  tt  Arctocyon. 


2i4  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

difference  of  limbs  and  teeth  which  now  distinguish 
their  descendants.  So  that,  for  example,  though 
there  were  fierce  animals  of  prey,  none  had  yet  the 
formidable  teeth  of  the  tiger  nor  the  muscular 
strength  of  the  lion,  neither  had  the  vegetarians  the 
fleetness  of  the  horse,  the  horns  of  the  deer,  nor  the 
large  brain  of  the  elephant. 

This  had  all  to  come  with  time,  and  from  that 
day  to  this  their  descendants  have  been  spreading 
over  the  earth.  Some,  large  and  powerful,  have  con- 
quered by  strength  ;  some,  by  superior  intelligence, 
have  learned  to  herd  together  and  protect  each  other 
in  the  battle  of  life  ;  some  have  gone  back  to  the 
water  and  imitated  the  fish  in  their  ocean  home  ;  and 
others,  smaller  and  feebler,  have  lived  on  by  means 
of  their  insignificance,  their  rapid  multiplication,  and 
their  power  of  hiding,  and  feeding  on  prey  too  minute 
to  attract  their  more  powerful  neighbours. 

Among  all  these  there  are  hundreds  of  different 
forms,  branching  out  here  and  there,  crossing  each 
other's  path  and  often  jostling  on  the  way  ;  while 
during  the  long  period  between  our  first  knowledge 
of  them  and  now,  they  have  been  driven  or  have 
travelled  from  one  country  to  another,  from  the 
northern  to  the  southern  hemisphere,  or  from  the 
Old  to  the  New  World,  till  in  many  cases  it  is  im- 
possible to  say  what  routes  they  have  taken. 

How,  then,  shall  we  get  a  glimpse  of  the  nature 
of  these  large  groups  ?  Shall  we  take  the  moles  and 
hedgehogs  as  the  lowest,  and  the  monkeys  as  the 
highest,  and  then  travel  in  a  straight  line  through 
the  forms  between  ?  Scarcely,  I  think,  for  it  is  very 
doubtful  whether  the  lemur  and  the  dormouse  may 


GNA  WERS  AND  INSECT-EA  TERS.     2 1 5 

not  be  able  to  boast  of  ancestors  as  ancient  as  the 
moles,  while  the  elephant  and  the  dog  are  surely  as 
intelligent  and  far  nobler  animals  than  the  monkey. 
No !  we  must  make  up  our  minds  at  once  that  the 
different  branches  have  grown  side  by  side  to  much 
the  same  height,  so  that  our  genealogical  tree,  if  it 
were  possible  to  make  one,  would,  like  a  real  tree, 
be  a  mass  of  entangled  twigs,  some  of  which  would, 
indeed,  be  less  aspiring  than  others,  yet  on  the  whole 
we  could  scarcely  say  that  one  reached  nearer  to  the 
sky  than  another.  What  perfection  they  have  each 
obtained  in  their  own  line  is  quite  another  question, 
and  one  which  we  are  able  to  trace  out. 

Thus,  for  example,  the  gnawing  animals  or 
Rodents^  and  the  insect-eaters  or  Insectivores^  are 
undoubtedly  the  lowest  types  next  to  the  sloths  and 
armadilloes,  the  insect-eaters  especially  having  very 
primitive  skeletons  and  small  brains.  Yet  we  shall 
find  that  we  pass  very  naturally  from  them  to  the 
intelligent  monkeys,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
vegetable-feeders  and  flesh-eaters  go  off  upon  quite 
a  different  line  of  their  own. 

Let  us,  then,  begin  with  these  two  lowly  groups, 
the  Rodents  and  Insectivores,  and  see  how  they 
have  conquered  their  humble  place  in  the  world.  One 
thing  is  clear,  that  they  do  not  hold  it  by  strength 
or  audacity,  for  taken  as  a  whole  they  are  small 
and  weak  animals  ;  the  giants  among  rodents,  the 
Capybaras  of  South  America,  where  all  lower  kinds 
of  animals  thrive,  are  only  as  large  as  good -sized 
pigs,  and  the  smallest,  the  "  Pocket-mice  "  of  North 
America,  are  not  bigger  than  large  locusts  ;  while 


2i6  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

the  insect-eaters  have  nothing  larger  than  the 
"  Tenrecs  "  or  soft-bristled  hedgehogs  of  Madagascar, 
about  the  size  of  a  tailless  cat  ;  and  the  rest  of 
the  group  vary  from  two  to  eight  inches  all  over 
the  world.  Moreover,  they  are  as  a  rule  timid,  and 
though  some  of  them  fight  fiercely  among  them- 
selves, yet  they  scamper  away  and  hide  at  the  least 
alarm,  and  generally  choose  the  twilight  or  the  dark 
night  for  their  feeding  time. 

Stroll  out  some  fine  summer's  evening,  when  the 
sun  has  set  and  the  moon  has  not  yet  risen,  and  as 
you  wander  in  the  fields  and  woods  with  eye  and 
ear  open,  you  will  scarcely  have  gone  far  before  you 
will  be  aware  that  there  is  plenty  of  stir  going  on. 
Some  active  little  field-mouse  will  cross  your  path 
in  her  eager  search  for  grain  and  seeds  to  lay  up  for 
her  winter  store,  or  you  may  startle  a  hare  in  the 
long  grass  and  watch  her  run  across  the  field,  or  see 
her  sit  upright  on  her  haunches  surveying  the  quiet 
night-world.  Or,  if  you  pass  over  a  common,  the 
number  of  little  white  tips  glancing  in  the  twilight 
from  under  the  furze  bushes  will  tell  you  that  the 
rabbits  have  not  yet  disappeared  into  their  burrows  ; 
while  as  you  enter  the  wood  the  sharp  little  eyes  of 
the  squirrel  will  peep  down  upon  you  from  the  beech 
trees,  as  she  watches  over  her  little  ones  in  their 
comfortable  nest  in  the  branches. 

All  these  are  Rodents,  and  you  may  know  them 
by  their  four  long  chisel-like  front  teeth  (see  B,  Fig. 
55),  which  have  a  large  gap  on  each  side,  between 
them  and  the  grinding  teeth  behind.  These  chisel 
teeth  have  not  bony  roots  like  the  teeth  of  most 
animals,  but  rest  in  a  deep  socket,  and  continue 


GNA  WERS  AND  INSECT-EA  TERS.     2 1 7 

growing  during  the  whole  of  the  animal's  life  ;  and 
they  have  a  hard  coat  of  enamel  in  front,  so  that  as 
the  tooth  wears  away  behind,  this  enamel  stands 
out  and  forms  a  sharp  cutting  edge,  and  there  is 
perhaps  no  tool  more  efficient  for  gnawing  a  root,  a 
nutshell,  or  the  solid  wood  of  a  tree,  than  the  tooth 
of  a  beaver  or  rat. 

But  these  animals  have  another  and  quite  a  dif- 
ferent set  of  companions,  as  you  will  learn  if  you  are 
lucky  enough,  by  looking  carefully  along  the  hedge, 
to  startle  a  little  shrew  in  its  quest  for  worms,  or  to 

Fig.  55- 


A,  Skull  of  an  insect  -  eating  animal  (Fnsectivore},  showing  the 
numerous  pointed  teeth.  B,  Skull  of  a  gnawing  animal  (Rodent]  show- 
ing the  large  chisel  teeth  in  front,  and  the  gap  between  these  and  the 
hind  teeth. 

catch  a  hedgehog  shuffling  along  at  a  sharp  trot 
after  his  nightly  meal  of  beetles,  slugs,  and  snails  ; 
nay,  you  may  even,  if  it  be  early  summer,  come 
across  a  mole,  or  find  two  fighting  fiercely  together 
for  possession  of  the  only  thing  they  come  to  the 
upper  world  to  fetch — a  wife. 

These  creatures  have  not  the  long  front  chisels 
of  the  hare  or  the  shrew  ;  on  the  contrary,  their 
mouth  is  small,  and  crowded  with  a  number  of  fine 
pointed  teeth  (see  A,  Fig.  55),  of  which  even  the 


218  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

back  ones  have  sharp  cusps  or  points,  well  fitted  for 
crushing  insects.  For  these  are  Insectivora  or  insect- 
eaters  ;  and  while  the  rodents  are  gnawing  at  roots 
and  leaves  and  nuts,  these  devourers  of  small  fry 
mingle  with  them  very  amicably  ;  while  both  groups 
only  ask  that  the  night-owl  may  not  see  them  in 
their  evening  wanderings,  nor  the  weasel  and  his 
bloodthirsty  tribe  attack  them  in  their  homes. 

For,  ever  since  they  began  the  race  of  life,  long 
long  ago,  these  two  very  different  orders  of  animals 
have  been  trying  to  feed  without  risk,  and  to  keep 
out  of  the  way  of  flesh -eating  birds  and  larger 
creatures.  And  so  it  has  come  to  pass  that,  though 
the  rodents  are  mostly  plant -eaters,  while  their 
associates  are  insect-eaters,  yet,  as  both  are  try- 
ing to  conceal  themselves,  and  get  their  food  by 
stealth,  they  have  acquired  curiously  similar  ex- 
ternal forms,  weapons,  and  habits  of  life,  with  the 
one  exception  of  their  teeth  and  the  manner  of 
eating  their  food. 

Even  in  our  English  meadows  a  casual  observer 
might  easily  mistake  the  little  insect -eating  shrew, 
with  its  soft  velvety  coat  and  bare  paws  (Fig.  56), 
for  a  near  relation  of  the  gnawing  Harvest-mouse 
nibbling  the  grass  tips  just  above  its  head  (Fig.  57)  ; 
though  a  nearer  inspection  of  the  shrew's  long  snout, 
small  ears,  and  sharp  teeth,  would  show  the  difference. 
And  as  to  their  way  of  life,  the  Field-shrew  and  the 
larger  Field-mouse  live  like  two  brothers  of  the 
same  race.  They  both  make  burrows  in  the  banks, 
though  the  field-mouse  digs  the  deeper  hole,  and 
they  both  line  their  home  with  dry  grass  to  bring 
up  their  little  ones.  And  when  the  winter  comes 


GNA  WERS  AND  INSECT-EA  TERS.  2 1 9 

they  both  retreat  into  their  homes  ;  the  shrew  to 
sleep  away  the  dark  days,  and  the  mouse  to  wake 
from  time  to  time  to  feed  upon  his  store.  Only 
their  food  is  quite  different,  and  when  they  come 
out  in  the  twilight  of  the  summer's  evening,  the 
mouse  is  on  the  look  out  for  acorns,  nuts,  grains, 
and  roots,  which  it  gnaws  off  with  its  sharp  chisels, 
while  the  shrew  is  chasing  worms  and  insects,  or 
cracking  tiny  snails  with  its  pointed  teeth. 

Then  if  you  lie  and  watch  quietly  by  the  bank  of 
a  river,  there  you  may  see  the  Water-rat  or  Vole 
(not  the  land-rat  which  sometimes  hunts  for  prey  in 
the  water)  diving  under  with  a  splash  to  gnaw  the 
roots  of  the  duckweed  or  the  stems  of  the  green 
flags,  and  coming  up  to  sit  on  the  bank,  and  hold 
them  in  his  paws  as  he  eats  them  ;  while  not  far  off 
a  pretty  little  Water-shrew,  this  time  too  small  and 
different  to  be  mistaken  for  his  companion,  is  swim- 
ming along  with  his  hind  feet,  the  air  bubbles  covering 
his  velvety  back  with  silvery  lustre  as  he  chases 
water-shrimps,  or  feeds  on  fish-spawn  or  young  frogs. 
Both  these  animals  live  in  streams  and  rivers,  and 
bring  up  their  young  in  holes  in  the  bank,  where 
they  can  jump  into  the  water  if  the  weasel  attacks 
them,  or  the  common  snake  pokes  his  head  too  near 
their  home. 

These  are  perhaps  the  chief  examples  we  shall 
find  in  England  of  insect-eaters  and  gnawers  living 
near  together  and  following  the  same  kind  of  life ;  but 
if  we  look  over  the  world  it  is  most  curious  how  many 
parallels  we  can  draw  between  them,  showing  how 
the  same  dangers  have  led  to  the  same  defences. 

Look  among  the  insect-eaters  at  our  Hedgehog 


220  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

(Fig.  56),  so  weak  and  shuffling  in  his  movements 
that  he  would  have  been  cleared  out  of  the  world 
long  ago  but  for  the  sharp  elastic  spines  which 
grow  upon  his  back  in  the  place  of  hair.  There 
he  goes  trotting  along  under  the  hedges  in  the 
twilight,  cracking  the  horny  skins  of  beetles,  or 


A  group  of  Insect-eaters. 
Common  Shrew,  Hedgehog,  Mole,  Bat. 

sucking  eggs,  or  devouring  worms,  slugs  and  mice 
when  he  can  get  them,  without  a  thought  .of  fear. 
For  he  can  roll  himself  up  in  an  instant  if  dangcr 
be  near,  and  his  sharp  spines  will  keep  off  even 
dogs  and  foxes,  unless  they  can  catch  him  un- 


GNAWERS  AND  INSECT-EATERS. 


221 


awares,  and  bite  him  underneath  in  his  soft  throat. 
Nay,  he  can  actually  master  a  poisonous  snake,  and 
use  it  for  food,  not  suffering  even  from  Jthe  adder's 
fangs  when  they  pierce  his  tender  nose. 

It  is   curious    to    see    how  quickly  he    can    roll 
himself  up  by  drawing  together  the  strong  band  of 

Fig-  57- 


A  group  of  Rodents. 
Harvest-mouse,  Porcupine,  Mole-rat. 

muscle  which  passes  along  the  sides  of  his  body 
from  head  to  tail,  sending  out  bands  of  muscle  to 
feet,  head,  and  legs.  When  he  contracts  this  band 
his  limbs  are  all  drawn  in,  and  the  spiny  back 
forms  a  kind  of  prickly  bag  all  round  them,  even  his 


222  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

tender  snout  being  safely  hidden.  Nor  are  his 
spines  merely  sharp — they  are  as  elastic  as  the  hair 
of  which  they  are  modifications  ;  and  the  hedgehog 
can  drop  safely  from  a  height  when  he  is  in  his  ball- 
shape,  falling  on  the  spines,  which  bend  and  straighten 
again  as  though  made  of  whalebone.  So  he  lives 
under  hedges  and  in  ditches  till  the  winter  comes, 
when  he  settles  down  in  a  nest  of  moss  and  leaves 
in  a  hedgebank  or  a  hollow  tree,  and  sleeps  the  cold 
weather  away.  And  when  the  spring  comes  he 
takes  a  wife,  who  brings  up  her  little  ones  in  the 
nest  of  moss  and  leaves  under  the  hedgerow,  watch- 
ing over  them  as  long  as  their  spines  are  soft. 

And  now  where  shall  we  look  among  the  rodents 
for  a  creature  to  match  the  hedgehog  among  insect- 
eaters  ?  Surely  to  the  "fretful  Porcupines,"  which  feed 
on  all  kinds  of  vegetable  food  in  Southern  Europe, 
Africa,  Asia,  and  America,  protecting  themselves  by 
the  formidable  array  of  spines  which  they  can  raise 
at  will.  Even  the  European  porcupine,  which  is 
about  two  feet  long  and  the  weakest*  of  his  tribe,  is 
better  protected  than  is  generally  believed.  It  is 
true  that  his  long  black  and  white  ringed  spines  only 
cover  the  hinder  part  of  his  body,  but  the  hair  of 
his  head  and  neck  hides  a  number  of  short  spines 
which  can  give  very  sharp  pricks  ;  and  though  he  is 
a  timid  night-loving  animal,  hiding  by  day  in  bur- 
rows and  holes  of  the  rocks,  yet  when  attacked  he 
jerks  himself  up  against  his  enemy,  so  that  the  long 
spines  wound  very  severely.  And  when  we-  come  to 
the  Tree-porcupines,  which  hang  by  their  tails  from 
the  palm  trees  in  Mexico  and  Brazil,  we  find  that 
their  short  stout  spines  are  a  very  efficient  defence 


GNA  WERS  AND  INSECT-EA  TERS.     223 

both  against  birds  of  prey  and  the  deadly  coils  of  the 
boa  constrictor  and  other  large  snakes  ;  while  the 
Western  porcupine  and  the  almost  tailless  Canada 
porcupine,  which  climb  trees  and  strip  off  their  bark 
and  buds,  have  a  clothing  of  such  dangerous  weapons 
that  pumas  and  wolves  have  been  known  to  die  of 
inflammation  from  the  wounds. 

The  porcupine  among  the  rodents,  then,  like  the 
hedgehog  among  insect-eaters,  has  adopted  prickles  as 
a  defence.  But  there  are  many  soft-haired  creatures 
living  upon  the  ground  in  bpth  families  which  have 
no  protection  but  concealment,  and  we  find  them 
both  gaining  it  by  burrowing  into  the  ground. 
Among  the  insect-eaters  the  Mole  is  the  most  suc- 
cessful digger,  and  as  he  works  his  tortuous  way 
through  the  ground  in  search  of  worms  and  grubs, 
it  is  scarcely  possible  to  imagine  a  miner  more 
usefully  equipped  for  his  work.  His  skeleton,  it  is 
true,  is,  on  the  whole,  more  primitive  and  roughly 
finished  than  that  of  higher  animals,  his  ear  is 
almost  closed,  and  his  eye  though  bright  is  deeply 
hidden  ;  but  the  parts  specially  necessary  to  him  are 
most  wonderfully  fitted  for  the  work  they  have  to  do. 

His  broad  shovel -like  front  paws  (see  Fig.  56), 
with  their  five  strong  claws,  set  each  in  a  long  groove 
at  the  tip  of  the  last  finger-joint,  are  powerful  tools  for 
shovelling  away  the  earth,  as  he  turns  them  outwards 
and  pushes  with  them  as  if  he  were  swimming ;  and 
they  are  carried  on  strong,  short,  and  broad  front  legs, 
fixed  to  collar-bones  and  a  shoulder  blade  of  unusual 
strength,  while  the  breastbone  is  so  formed  as  to 
throw  the  legs  forward  and  bring  them  on  a  level 
with  his  nose  when  he  is  burrowing.  This  nose,  too, 
11 


224  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

has  its  part  to  play,  for  it  is  long  and  slender,  with 
a  small  bone  at  the  tip,  which  helps  him  in  pushing 
his  way  forwards  while  his  hind  feet  are  planted 
flat  and  firm  on  the  ground  behind,  while  it  also 
serves  to  pick  out  the  grubs,  worms,  and  beetles 
from  their  narrow  holes. 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  very  best  of  miners, 
who  has  secured  food  and  safety  far  from  the  busy 
world  above,  and  spends  his  time  hunting  for  grubs 
and  earth-worms  in  the  dark  earth  below.  He 
is  a  most  voracious  animal,  and  makes  the  ground 
above  him  heave  and  swell  as  he  toils  through  it 
eager  for  prey,  pushing  up  every  now  and  then  with 
his  nose  the  loose  earth  he  has  excavated,  thus 
marking  the  line  of  his  route  by  molehills. 

But  when  he  builds  his  home  and  fortress  where 
he  takes  his  long  winter's  sleep,  and  hides  from 
weasels  and  pole-cats,  he  takes  care  to  throw  no 
loose  rubbish  above  ;  on  the  contrary,  he  presses  the 
earth  together  so  as  to  make  the  walls  of  his  chamber 
firm  and  hard,  and  carries  out  from  it  a  number  of 
passages,  by  any  of  which  he  can  reach  his  home  in 
safety  when  he  is  pursued  too  closely. 

Thus  by  his  cleverness  in  burrowing,  and  the 
useful  tools  which  he  carries  upon  his  body,  the  mole 
has  managed  to  find  safe  feeding-ground  and  shelter, 
when  no  doubt  many  of  his  relations  living  above 
ground  have  been  killed  off.  Even  underground  he 
has  his  enemies,  for  the  Weasel,  the  Stoat,  and  the 
Badger  find  him  good  eating,  while  if  he  meets  one 
of  his  own  brothers  in  a  narrow  passage  they  will 
fight  till  one  is  killed  and  eaten  ;  yet  though  fierce 
he  is  also  tender-hearted,  for  mole-catchers  say  that 


BURROWING  GNAWERS  &  INCSET-EATERS.    225 

when  a  mother-mole  is  caught  in  a  trap  the  father 
may  sometimes  be  found  dead  by  her  side. 

And  now  if  we  turn  to  ^the  rodents  for  rivals  to 
the  mole,  we  are  almost  confounded  by  the  multitude 
of  creatures  which  have  found  safety  in  burrowing. 
Not  only  have  we  the  rabbit-warrens,  by  which  the 
sandy  soil  of  our  commons  is  riddled  in  every 
direction  with  holes,  leading  to  burrows  where  the 
mother  lies  snugly  hidden  with  her  five  or  six  naked 
little  ones  in  a  bed  of  her  own  fur  ;  but  we  have 
the  extensive  burrows  of  the  little,  long-legged,  leap- 
ing, gnawing  Jerboas  of  Africa,  which  are  so  like 
the  Jumping  Shrews  among  insect-eaters.  Then 
again  there  are  the  underground  cities  of  the  South 
American  Viscachas  and  Chinchillas,  and  the  exten- 
sive subterranean  settlements  of  the  Lemmings, — 
those  curious  rodents,  which  from  time  to  time  start 
off  in  vast  swarms  across  Norway,  over  mountain  and 
valley,  through  flood  and  fen,  over  rivers  and  plains, 
preyed  upon  by  eagles  and  hawks,  foxes  and  weasels, 
on  their  way,  but  never  stopping  or  swerving  in  their 
course  till  they  reach  the  sea,  into  which  they  plunge 
and  drown  themselves.  Again,  every  inhabitant  of 
Switzerland  knows  the  Marmot  and  the  burrows  he 
forms,  scratching  up  the  earth  with  his  hind  feet  and 
patting  it  together  with  his  front  paws  and  his  broad 
nose  ;  while  every  American  child  has  heard  of  the 
hillocks  thrown  up  by  the  "  Prairie  Dogs,"*  which 
undermine  whole  plains  in  the  far  west  with  their 
underground  cities,  where  the  burrowing  owl  shares 
their  home  with  them,  and  the  rattlesnake  steals 
their  young. 

*  Cynomys. 


226 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


But  all  these  come  out  upon  the  land  and  use 
their  burrows  chiefly  for  homes  and  nurseries.  We 
can  match  the  mole  better  than  this  among  rodents, 
for  in  Eastern  Europe,  India,  and  Africa,  there  are 
blind  creatures  called  Mole-rats  *  (see  Fig.  5  7),  with 
broad  flat  heads,  small  eyes  hidden  in  their  fur,  short 
tails,  and  feet  with  sharp  claws,  which  live  almost  en- 
tirely underground,  burrowing  subterranean  galleries 

Fig.  58. 


The  Pyrenean  Desman,  f  an  insect-eating  water  animal. 

in  the  sandy  plains  in  search  of  roots,  as  the  mole 
does  for  worms ;  while  the  Pouched  Rats!  of  North 
America  also  live  in  burrows,  throwing  up  hills  just 
like  mole-hills,  and  gnawing  roots  and  buried  seeds, 
which  they  carry  in  their  large  cheek-pouches,  to  store 
up  in  their  underground  chamber  for  winter  food. 

*  Spalacidoe.  f  Myogale  Fyrenaica.  J  Geomyidce. 


THE  BE  A  VER. 


227 


Nevertheless,  the  rodents  can  scarcely  compete 
with  the  mole  as  burrowers,  and  it  is  not  till  we 
come  to  the  water-animals  that  tJicy  begin  to  have 
the  best  of  it.  True,  the  insect-eaters  have  the 
Water-shrew  and  the  curious  West  African  Shrew,* 
with  its  broad  tail ;  while  the  Desman  t  of  Russia 
and  the  Pyrenees  (see  Fig.  58),  with  his  dense  furry 

Fig.  59- 


The  Beaver,  J  a  gnawing  water-animal. 

coat,  his  broad  tail,  and  his  webbed  feet,  is  quite  a 
match  for  the  gnawing  Musk-rat  or  Musquash  of 
North  America,  for  they  both  live  in  fortresses  on 
the  river-banks,  to  which  hidden  passages  are  well 
contrived  to  elude  pursuit ;  and  while  the  desman, 

*  Potamogale.  f  Myogale.  $  Castor  fiber. 


228  THE  WINNERS  IN- LIFE'S  RACE. 

with  his  curious  movable  snout,  pokes  about  in  the 
Russian  or  Pyrenean  streams  after  leeches,  water- 
snails  and  insects,  the  musquash  in  America  gnaws 
off  the  roots  and  stems  of  water-plants. 

But  the  insect-eaters  have  no  water- animal  to 
match  the  Beaver  in  sagacity,  judgment,  or  engineer- 
ing. For  here  we  have  a  creature  not  much  larger 
than  a  good-sized  cat,  cutting  down  trees,  dragging 
logs  six  feet  long  to  the  water's  edge,  and  building 
with  them  the  most  elaborate  log-houses  and  water- 
dams.  With  hind  feet  webbed  up  to  the  claws,  and 
his  broad  tail  as  a  rudder,  the  beaver  has  so  much 
swimming  power  that  his  fore  legs  are  free  to  carry 
and  place  the  wood,  while  his  broad  orange-coloured 
teeth,  as  sharp  as  chisels,  which  grow  as  fast  as  he 
wears  them  away,  are  his  cutting  instruments.  With 
them  he  gnaws  a  deep  notch  in  the  trunk  of  a  larch 
or  pine  or  willow,  as  deep  as  he  dares  without  fear 
of  its  falling,  and  then  going  round  to  the  other  side, 
begins  work  there  till  the  trunk  is  severed  and  falls 
heavily  on  the  side  of  the  deep  notch,  and  therefore 
away  from  himself.  Then,  after  stripping  off  the 
bark  and  gnawing  the  trunk  into  pieces  about  six 
feet  long,  he  uses  his  fore-paws  and  his  teeth  to  drag 
them  into  position  to  build  his  dam.  The  lighter 
branches  he  uses  to  make  his  oven-shaped  lodge, 
laying  them  down  in  basket-work  shape,  plastering 
them  with  mud,  grass,  and  moss,  and  lining  the 
chambers  with  wood-fibre,  and  dry  grass  ;  and  the 
logs  he  piles  up  to  form  dams,  lest  at  any  time  the 
stream  should  flow  away  and  leave  the  entrances 
to  his  home  dry.  These  dams  are  very  skilfully 
and  cunningly  formed.  He  always  makes  the  deep 


BE  A  VERS  AND  BE  A  VER-MEADO  WS.         229 

notch  in  the  trunk  on  the  side  near  the  water,  so 
that  the  tree  in  falling  comes  as  near  as  possible 
to  the  stream  ;  then  he  does  not  always  clear  away 
all  the  branches,  but  he  and  his  companions  pla.ce 
the  logs  with  these  lying  doivn  the  stream,  so  that 
they  act  as  supports  to  resist  the  current  and  pre- 
vent the  dam  being  washed  away.  Thus  they 
make  a  broad  foundation,  sometimes  as  much  as 
six  feet  wide,  and  upon  this  they  pile  logs  and 
stones  and  mud  till  they  have  made  a  barrier  often 
ten  feet  high  and  more  than  a  hundred  feet  long. 

In  this  way  they  clear  the  woods  just  round  their 
stream,  as  if  a  whole  gang  of  wood-cutters  had  been 
there  at  work  ;  and  as  the  dams  check  back  the  water 
and  form  broad  meres,  there  are  soon  swamps  on  all 
sides,  where  peat  moss  grows  and  "  beaver-meadows  " 
are  formed. 

Here  the  beavers  live  in  companies,  each  in  his 
own  chamber  with  his  wife  and  family,  though  under- 
ground passages  often  lead  from  one  to  the  other," 
and  when  water-plants  and  soft  bark  are  scarce,  they 
will  often  travel  some  way  inland  to  feed  on  fruits 
and  grain.  But  if  among  the  community  any  are 
lazy  or  will  not  take  partners,  they  are  driven  out, 
to  find  a  refuge  in  holes  of  the  river-banks,  where 
they  sulk  alone. 

In  Western  Europe,  indeed,  where  they  have 
been  so  much  persecuted,  most  of  the  beavers  live 
alone  in  holes,  though  communities  are  still  left  in 
parts  of  Germany,  Scandinavia,  and  Siberia.  But  in 
North  America  they  still  carry  on  their  true  com- 
munal life,  and  those  who  visit  their  wonderful  settle- 
ments will  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  they  possess 


230  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

the  largest  brain  for  their  size  of  any  of  the  gnawing 
animals. 

Indeed,  they  would  have  no  rival  among  rodents 
if  .it  were  not  for  the  clever  sagacious  rats,  and  these 
have  probably  sharpened  their  wits  by  living  so  long 
in  contact  with  man,  for  they  are  burrowers  chiefly 
in  human  dwellings,  granaries,  stables,  mines,  ships, 
and  every  available  dwelling-place  where  they  can 
rob  and  plunder,  and  outwit  even  man  himself  by 
working  their  way  into  his  stores,  and  acting  together 
in  carrying  away  his  goods. 

So  the  insect-eaters  and  rodents  hold  their  own 
both  by  land  and  water,  penetrating,  in  the  forms  of 
bats  and  mice  even  to  Australia,  though  the  rodents 
are  most  widely  spread,  for  except  two  very  rare 
animals*  in  the  West  Indian  Islands,  there  are  no 
Insectivora  except  bats  in  South  America.  The 
bats,  however,  remind  us  that  both  these  groups 
have  also  found  homes  above  the  ground  and  in 
the  trees.  There  the  rodents  have  the  lovely  little 
Squirrels,  which,  with  their  brown  red  backs,  white 
waistcoats,  and  graceful  bushy  tails,  scamper  up  the 
trees  of  our  English  woods.  It  is  very  tempting 
to  dwell  upon  the  squirrel,  with  his  little  wife,  to 
whom  he  remains  faithful  all  his  life,  his  beautiful 
round  nest,  in  which  his  young  are  so  carefully 
reared,  and  his  pretty  ways  as  he  sits  upright  gnaw- 
ing beechnuts  or  acorns,  holding  them  in  his  tiny 
hands.  He  has  made  good  use  of  his  opportunities, 
being  almost  as  widely  spread  as  the  rat,  for  there 
are  squirrels  of  some  kind  all  over  the  world,  where- 
ever  there  are  forests,  except  in  Australia.  Several 

*  Soledon  and  one  of  the  Shrews. 


THE  SQUIRREL. 


231 


of  them  in  the  East  and  North  America  have  folds 
of  skin  at  the  side  of  the  body,  which,  when  tightly 
stretched,  by  extending  the  four  limbs,  enable  them 
to  take  flying  leaps  from  tree  to  tree  (see  Fig. 
60).  Even  without  flying,  however,  the  squirrel 
is  so  nimble  that  he  manages  well  to  escape  his 

Fig.  60. 


On  the  tree,  the  Taguan*  or  flying  squirrel,  a  rodent ;  Flying  below, 
the  Colugo,t  an  insectivorous  animal. 

enemies,  except  some  of  the  birds  of  prey  and  the 
fierce  tree-marten  and  wild  cat  ;  and  as  in  cold 
'countries  he  sleeps  soundly  in  snug  holes  of  a  tree 
till  the  leaves  grow  again  to  give  him  shelter,  he  is 
not  often  detected  even  by  these. 

*  Pteromys  Petaurista.  t  Galeopithecus  volans. 


232  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

Nevertheless,  in  tree-life  and  in  the  air  it  is  the 
turn  of  the  insect-eaters  to  claim  the  advantage.  It 
is  true  that  the  insect -eating  Bangsrings,*  which 
scamper  up  the  trees  in  Sumatra  and  South- East 
Asia,  and  were  long  mistaken  for  squirrels,  are  a 
small  family  and  not  of  much  importance  ;  but  what 
shall  we  say  to  the  Bats,  the  only  true  flying  milk- 
givers  ?  Or  what,  again,  to  that  curious  animal  the 
Colugo  or  Flying  Lemur  of  the  Malay  Islands,  which 
belongs  to  the  insect-eaters,  and  yet  has  some  points 
like  marsupials,  some  like  fruit-bats,  and  some  like 
the  true  lemurs  ?  This  strange  creature,  which 
seems  like  the  remnant  of  some  branch-line  from 
very  ancient  times,  climbs  the  tree  like  a  squirrel  by 
means  of  its  claws,  and  then  spreading  out  its  limbs 
displays  a  broad  membrane  (see  Fig.  60)  stretching 
not  only  along  its  sides  but  across  its  tail,  and  from 
the  front  of  the  arms  to  the  neck  as  in  bats,  and  so 
sails  down  from  one  tree  to  another.  The  mother, 
which  Mr.  Wallace  examined,  nurses  the  little  one 
on  her  breast  just  as  the  lemurs  do,  while  large  folds 
of  her  skin  protects  the  small,  bald,  naked  little 
creature,  something  after  the  manner  of  an  imperfect 
pouch.  Lastly,  while  they  sometimes  feed  on  insects, 
the  chief  diet  of  these  colugos  is  fruit,  like  the  lemurs, 
to  which  group  they  were  once  supposed  to  belong. 

But  of  all  modified  insect-eaters  the  most  extra- 
ordinary are  the  Bats,  which  are  so  different  from 
all  the  others  that  they  have  been  placed  in  a  dis- 
tinct order f  of  their  own.  Imagine  a  little  creature 
about  three  inches  long,  with  a  body  something  like  a 

*  Tupaia.  f  Chiroptera. 


BATS,   TRUE  FLYING  MILK-GIVERS.          233 

shrew,  large  ears,  a  protruding  snout,  and  plenty  of 
sharp  teeth  (see  Figs.  6 1  and  62).  Let  it  have 
a  breast  bone  projecting  more  than  in  most  milk- 
givers,  and  covered  with  a  large  mass  of  muscle  as 
in  birds,  fitted  to  move  the  wings,  but  having  nipples 
to  suckle  its  young.  Let  it  have  large  shoulder- 
blades  and  collar-bones,  a  strong  upper  arm,  a  very 
long  lower  arm  (fa,  Fig.  61),  and  four  immensely 
long  fingers  to  its  hand  (ha\  and  a  short  clawed 
thumb  (t).  Let  its  hind  legs  be  short  and  weak, 

Fig.  61. 


Skeleton  of  a  Bat. 

(Lettered  to  compare  with  bird's  skeleton,  p.  126). 
fa,  fore  arm  ;  «/,  wrist ;  ft  thumb  ;  ha,  hand  ;  7z,  heel ;  f,  foot. 

with  a  long  spur  behind  the  heel  (K)  of  its  fi ve- 
toed feet,  and  finally  let  the  skin  of  its  body  grow 
on  over  the  arms  and  long  fingers,  filling  in  the 
space  between  the  elbows  and  the  neck  in  front, 
and  stretching  away  behind,  over  the  legs  down 
to  the  ankle,  and  on  behind  the  legs,  so  as  to  enclose 
the  tail.  This  skin  growing  from  the  back  above, 
and  the  under  part  of  the  body  below,  will  enclose  the 


234  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

bones  of  the  arms,  hands,  and  legs,  like  a  kite  with 
calico  stretched  on  both  sides  (see  Fig.  56,  p.  220), 
and  when  the  long  fingers  are  outspread  and  the 
legs  opened,  no  limbs  will  be  seen,  but  only  a  small 
body  and  head,  with  an  immense  expanse  of  skinny 
wing,  from  which  the  short  clawed  thumbs  and  the 
four  toes  of  the  feet  stick  out  before  and  behind. 

Now  this  creature  is  no  longer  like  the  flying 
squirrels  or  the  colugo,  which  can  only  take  floating 
leaps  ;  for  though  like  them  it  has  only  a  membrane 
stretching  out  from  its  body,  yet  this  has  become  a 
long  flexible  wing,  formed  on  a  widely  outstretched 
arm  and  abnormally  long  hand,  and  moved  by 
powerful  muscles  like  the  wings  of  birds  or  insects. 
It  is  essentially  fitted  for  flitting  through  the  air  in 
search  of  prey,  while  it  makes  but  little  use  of  the 
running  power  which  it  possesses  in  common  with 
all  other  insect-eaters.  If  you  see  a  bat  moving 
along  the  ground,  you  will  acknowledge  at  once 
that  it  is  a  true  quadruped,  yet,  by  its  awkward 
gait  as  it  shuffles  along  on  its  clawed  thumb  and 
toes,  you  will  judge  that  it  is  not  an  earth-loving 
animal.  Watch  it  at  night  on  the  wing  and  it  is 
quite  another  creature  ;  then  it  will  flit  about  in  and 
out  of  cracks  and  crevices,  under  the  eaves,  round 
the  haystacks,  or  among  the  trees,  and  never  once 
strike  its  wings  against  anything,  though  it  has  been 
proved  that  it  does  not  trust  chiefly  to  its  bead-like 
eyes  to  guide  it. 

Bats  have  been  blinded,  their  ears  stopped  with 
wool,  and  their  noses  with  sponge  dipped  in  cam- 
phor ;  and  yet,  without  sight,  hearing,  or  smell,  they 
steered  quite  successfully  between  outstretched  threads 


SELF-GUIDING  POWER  OF  BATS. 


235 


or  tree -branches,  or  found  their  way  into  a  hole  in 
the  roof.  In  truth,  as  they  have  become  fitted  to 
navigate  the  air,  they  seem  also  to  have  become 
sensitive  to  its  currents.  Their  wings  are  abundantly 
supplied  with  nerves  and  blood-vessels,  and  have  little 
rough  points  all  over  the  surface ;  their  ears  have 

Fig.  62. 


A  Bat  walking. 

generally  a  second  ear-lobe  or  leaf  within  the  outer 
one,  and  those  which  have  not  this  have  leaves  of 
skin  or  membrane  round  their  nose.  With  all  these 
they  seem  to  feel  the  slightest  difference  in  the  air,  so 
as  to  detect  at  once  whether  they  are  in  the  open, 
or  whether  any  resisting  object  is  near  them. 


236  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

Now  it  is  clear  that  a  creature  of  this  kind,  able 
to  chase  insects  in  the  air,  even  in  the  darkest  night, 
can  secure  much  food  that  the  running  insect-eaters 
can  never  reach.  When  the  little  common  English 
bat,  the  Pipistrelle,  awakes  from  his  day's  sleep, 
which  he  has  been  taking,  head  downwards,  hanging 
by  his  feet  in  some  old  tree  or  under  the  roof  of  a 
barn,  he  finds  the  gnats  and  flies  abroad,  and  begins 
his  chase  in  the  twilight — up  and  down,  from  side 
to  side  he  flits,  and  his  wide-open  mouth  takes  in 
insects  at  every  turn.  And  by -and -by,  as  the 
dark  nights  come  on,  the  Long- eared  Bats  begin 
gradually  to  stir  from  their  clusters  in  the  barns 
and  old  buildings,  and,  unfolding  their  wings  so  as 
to  display  their  ears  as  long  as  their  bodies,  com- 
mit  sad  havoc  among  the  night-moths.  All  night 
long  their  shrill  squeak  may  be  heard,  but  before 
day  dawns  they  are  away  again,  and  may  be  found 
hanging  in  dense  masses  by  their  hind  legs  to  the 
timbers  of  some  old  church  belfry,  or  in  caves,  or 
even  under  the  roofs  of  houses,  where  they  find  an 
entrance  by  some  hole,  and  go  in  by  hundreds  to 
hang  from  the  rafters. 

Many  accounts  are  given  in  American  writers  of 
the  thousands  of  bats  collected  in  the  caverns  which 
abound  in  the  Western  States,  while  in  the  Egyptian 
catacombs  they  hang  in  myriads.  For  of  all  things 
a  bat  dreads  the  light  when  beasts  of  prey  are  abroad, 
and  next  to  that  he  fears  any  position  near  the 
ground  where  weasels,  wild  cats,  or  other  flesh-eating 
animals  may  seize  him  in  his  sleep.  Nay,  the 
smaller  bats  live  in  constant  fear  of  the  larger  ones, 
for  they  feed  upon  one  another  with  evident  relish. 


THE  VAMPIRE  BATS.  237 

Yet  in  spite  of  dangers  the  bat  family,  aided 
by  its  power  of  flight,  has  spread  all  over  the 
world,  from  the  Arctic  Circle  to  the  Equator,  east, 
west,  north,  and  south.  In  cold  countries  they 
hang  by  their  feet  in  the  winter,  or  sometimes 
by  their  clawed  thumbs,  and  sleep  in  dark  recesses, 
scarcely  breathing  till  the  warm  weather  and  the 
insects  return  ;  but  in  warm  countries  they  are 
active  all  the  year,  sleeping  by  day  and  feeding  by 
night. 

In  England  and  North  America  they  are  con- 
tent chiefly  with  insect  food,  but  in  South  America 
the  Vampires,  among  the  leaf- nosed  bats,  fasten  on 
to  large  animals  and  suck  their  blood.  Mr.  Darwin 
had  his  servant's  horse  bitten  and  disabled  for  two 
days  by  a  vampire  in  Chili  ;  while  Mr.  Wallace, 
when  on  the  Amazon  River,  was  himself  twice 
bitten,  once  upon  the  great  toe,  and  once  on  the  tip 
of  his  nose  while  asleep  !  A  bat  is  a  grotesque- 
looking  animal  at  best ;  but  some  of  these  leaf- 
nosed  bats  are  simply  hideous,  with  their  wide-open 
mouth,  sharp  teeth,  and  the  skinny  leaves  sticking 
up  round  their  nose. 

How  different  are  the  gentle-looking  fruit-eating 
bats  of  the  Tropics,  which  seem  to  belong  to  quite 
a  different  branch  of  the  family.  Their  fox-like  and 
intelligent  faces  are  a  pleasure  to  look  at,  reminding 
one  of  the  lemurs,  and  harmonising  beautifully  with 
their  quiet  peaceful  life  among  the  fig-trees,  guavas, 
mango-trees,  and  plantains  of  the  East.  There  they 
hang  in  dense  masses  from  the  tall  silk-cotton  trees 
till  night  comes  on,  and  then  take  wing  as  soon  as 
the  sun  is  set,  and  hooking  themselves  by  one  thumb 


238  THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

to  the  fruit-trees,  hold  the  fruit  in  the  other  as  they 
feed. 

Thus  we  have  a  wide  range  of  habits    in  bats, 
from  the  insect-eaters  to  the  blood-sucking  vampires 

Fig.  63. 


Fruit-bats*  hanging  from  the  ledges  of  a  cave  in  the  Mauritius. 

on  one  hand,  and  the  gentle  fruit-bats  on  the  other. 

But  one  virtue  the  most  bloodthirsty  and  the 
most  gentle  have  in  common,  and  that  is  maternal 
love.  As  soon  as  the  little  ones  are  born  they 

*  Pteropus  vulgaris. 


THE  RODENTS  AND  INSECTIVORA.         239 

cling  to  their  mother's  breast,  and  she  often  folds 
over  them  the  skin  which  covers  her  tail,  so  as  to 
form  a  kind  of  pouch,  so  that  wherever  she  flies  they 
go  with  her,  and  are  carefully  tended  and  suckled 
by  her  till  they  can  take  up  the  chase  for  them- 
selves. 

And  now  we  have  followed  out  the  Rodents  and 
Insectivora  in  their  various  lines.  Both  lowly  groups, 
of  simple  structure  and  with  comparatively  feeble 
brains,  they  have  chiefly  escaped  destruction  from 
higher  forms  by  means  of  their  nocturnal  and  bur- 
rowing habits  or  arboreal  lives,  and  the  marvellous 
rapidity  with  which  they  breed,  combined  with  their 
power  of  sleeping  without  food  during  the  winter  in 
all  cold  countries.  Nevertheless,  though  they  are 
often  strangely  alike  in  outward  form,  they  differ  in 
many  remarkable  respects.  The  insect-eaters  now 
existing  are  chiefly  a  few  straggling  forms  of  a  once 
widely-spread  group  ;  while  the  rodents,  on  the  con- 
trary, are  still  a  very  numerous  and  varied  family, 
spread  all  over  the  earth,  and  boasting  of  such  intel- 
ligent forms  as  the  squirrel,  the  beaver,  and  the  rat. 
But  here  their  advantages  appear  to  end,  while  the 
insectivora  point  onwards  not  only  to  the  bats,  the 
only  flying  milk -givers,  but  also  through  the  colugo 
to  the  lemurs,  and  thus  onwards  to  the  monkeys. 
It  may  be,  and  indeed  probably  is  true,  that  the 
colugo  started  off  from  some  very  early  type,  more 
nearly  related  to  the  pouch-bearers  than  the  present 
insect-eaters  are  ;  while  the  monkeys,  again,  branched 
off  long  ago  on  another  line  quite  separate  from  the 
modern  lemurs.  But  if  the  tiny  shrew  wished,  like 
many  little  people,  to  boast  of  distinguished  connec- 


24o  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

tions,  he  might  with  justice  suggest  that  somewhere 
among  his  primitive  ancestors  one  would  probably 
be  found  whose  descendants  had  risen  far  higher  in 
the  world  than  himself. 

It  may  perhaps  seem  strange  to  many  readers 
that  instead  of  leaving  the  apes  and  monkeys  to  the 
last,  as  standing  at  the  head  of  the  animal  kingdom, 
we  should  bring  them  in  now,  directly  after  such 
lowly  creatures  as  hedgehogs  and  mice,  bats  and 
beavers.  It  must,  however,  be  repeatedly  borne  in 
mind  that  we  are  not  following  a  direct  line  upwards, 
but  a  family  tree,  which  branches  in  all  directions  ; 
and  though  the  gap  between  monkeys  and  insecti- 
vora  may  be  great,  yet  they  have  many  more  points 
in  common  than  the  monkeys  have  with  any  of  the 
vegetable -feeders  or  carnivorous  animals,  and  pro- 
bably we  should  find  these  links  even  more  marked 
if  it  were  not  that  we  know  so  very  little  of  the  early 
history  of  Monkeys.  The  reason  of  this  probably  is 
that  they  live  and  die  in  woods,  where  any  remains 
of  their  bodies  not  eaten  by  other  animals  decay  and 
crumble  to  dust,  so  that  we  have  only  here  and  there 
a  few  skeletons  to  tell  any  tale  of  their  ancestors. 
And  so  it  comes  to  pass  that  when  we  first  meet  with 
the  great  army  of  milk -givers  (see  p.  209),  lemurs, 
and  soon  after  true  monkeys,  existed,  with  thumbs  on 
their  hands  and  grasping  great  toes  on  their  feet. 

In  those  times,  when  the  climate  of  Europe  and 
North  America  was  warm  and  genial,  they  spread 
far  and  wide  with  the  other  animals  over  Germany, 
England,  and  the  United  States,  where  forests  of 
palms,  fig-trees,  and  evergreens  afforded  them  a 


THE  GRASPING  HAND-FOOT  OF  MONKEYS.    241 

congenial  home.  But  as  soon  as  these  began  to 
fail  and  the  climate  of  the  northern  countries  be- 
came cold  and  cheerless,  we  find  the  monkey-  king- 
dom growing  narrower  and .  narrower,  till  in  our  own 
day,  while  the  flesh -feeders  range  from  the  Arctic 
Circle  to  the  Equator,  and  the  vegetarians  have 
their  reindeers  travelling  over  ice  and  snow  on 
the  one  hand,  and  their  hippopotamuses  and  giraffes 
wandering  under  the  burning  sun  of  Africa  on  the 
other,  the  tender  monkeys,  which  shiver  in  cold  and 
damp  and  are  constant  victims  to  consumption,  have 
shrunk  back  into  the  Tropics,  where  there  is  abund- 
ance of  fruit  and  vegetation  for  their  food.  It  is  true 
a  few  kinds  still  linger  in  Japan,  and  one  *  on  the 
sunny  Rock  of  Gibraltar,  while  one  or  two  wander 
up  the  mountains  of  Tibet  into  the  regions  of  frost 
and  snow  ;  but,  on  the  whole,  monkeys  are  essentially 
inhabitants  of  warm  countries,  where  the  trees  are 
perpetually  covered  with  leaves  and  fruit,  as  in  the 
luxuriant  forests  of  South  Asia  and  Tropical  Africa 
in  the  Old  World,  and  Tropical  America  in  the  New. 
Though  they  have  but  a  narrow  kingdom,  how- 
ever, there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  make  the  most 
of  it,  and  have  managed  to  develop  shrewdness  and 
a  sense  of  fun  and  frolic  which  would  be  quite  unac- 
countable if  it  were  not  for  one  peculiarity  which  they 
possess.  This  peculiarity  is  the  grasping  power  of 
their  hands  and  feet,  which  has  caused  them  to  become 
such  active  nimble  creatures,  swinging,  leaping,  and 
running  quickly  along  the  boughs  of  the  tangled 
forests  in  which  they  live. 

Yet   the    monkeys    do   not   stand    alone    in    this 

The  Magot,  Macacusinuus. 


242  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

grasping  power,  for  we  have  seen  that  the  opossums 
have"  hind -thumbs  among  the  pouch -bearers,  while 
among  the  rodents  the  little  dormouse  has  a  nailless 
grasping  toe-thumb  on  his  hind  feet  So  that  here 
already  we  have  some  clue  to  possible  descendants 
of  poor  relations  of  the  monkeys  down  in  the  lower 
forms  of  life  ;  and  when  we  remember  that  the  colugo 
(see  p.  232)  is  related  on  the  one  hand  to  marsu- 
pials and  insect-eaters,  while  on  the  other  it  leans 
towards  the  lemurs,  and  through  them  to  the  mon- 
keys, we  begin  to  suspect  that  somewhere  low  down 
in  all  these  groups  we  might  find  ourselves  among 
a  family  party  from  which  all  the  different  branches 
have  sprung  ;  just  as  we  found  the  birds,  reptiles, 
and  milk -givers  starting  in  past  ages  among  the 
amphibia. 

It  must,  however,  be  very  long  ago  since  the 
monkeys  scrambled  to  the  top  of  this  family  tree, 
for  even  the  Lemurs, — which  are  not  true  monkeys, 
but  a  lower  type  with  an  irregular  number  of  teeth 
like  the  insect-eaters,  hairy  hands  and  fox -like 
faces,  without  any  change  of  expression, — have  well- 
developed  thumbs  and  toe -thumbs,  with  nails  on 
hands  and  feet,  and  they  have  besides  that  free 
movement  of  the  arm  and  wrist  which  gives  at  once 
an  advantage  to  the  Quadrumana*  or  four-handed 
animals. 

These    lemurs  are  a   gentle  and    loving   race  of 

*  Naturalists  now  class  monkeys  under  the  order  "Primates"  (or 
highest  forms),  together  with  man,  and  they  have  given  up  the  term 
Quadrumana,  or  four-handed,  because,  although  the  feet  grasp  like 
hands,  they  are  true  feet.  Nevertheless,  this  term  is  very  useful ;  and, 
if  properly  understood,  expresses  the  grasping  power  of  the  four  feet 
characteristic  of  the  group. 


GALAGOS  AND  LEMURS.  243 

creatures,  which  run  on  all  fours  like  cats,  and  have 
none  of  the  mischievous  half- reasoning  pranks  of 
monkeys.  They  must  have  crept  down  long  long 
ago  from  the  great  battlefield  of  Europe  and  Asia, 
and  taken  refuge  in  the  forests  of  South  Africa  and 
India,  and  especially  in  the  Island  of  Madagascar, 
where  they  were  sheltered  from  the  attacks  of  larger 
and  fiercer  animals.  They  are  splendid  climbers, 
with  very  sensitive  tips  to  their  fingers,  which  are 
often  of  different  lengths,  and  many  of  them  have 
eyes  with  pupils  which  expand  and  contract  like 
those  of  a  cat,  enabling  them  to  see  well  by  day 
and  night,  while  a  quick  sense  of  hearing  warns 
them  of  any  danger  near. 

In  India,  indeed,  their  relations  the  "  Lories  "  are 
most  of  them  slow-moving  night-loving  animals, 
while  in  South  Africa  the  "  Galagos  "  sleep  all  day 
in  -a  nest  of  leaves,  and  are  only  active  at  night, 
crying  to  each  other  as  they  leap  from  bough  to 
bough,  seizing  the  beetles  and  moths  in  their  little 
hands.  It  was  probably  from  such  night-wan- 
derers as  these  that  the  general  name  of  "  lemurs  " 
or  "  ghost-like  "  animals  was  given  to  the  group,  for 
the  tme  lemurs,  which  live  in  Madagascar, — their 
special  home,  where  they  have  few  enemies, — may 
be  seen  by  day  running  along  the  branches,  snatch- 
ing the  fruit,  sucking  birds'  eggs,  and  even  feeding 
on  the  young  birds  themselves,  for  they  have  plenty 
of  crushing  teeth,  as  well  as  incisors  for  clipping  the 
leaves.  Sometimes  they  sit  in  companies,  huddled 
together,  wrapping  their  soft  furry  tails  round  each 
other's  necks,  for  they  are  chilly  creatures,  and  even 
in  that  warm  country  their  thick  tails,  which  are 


244 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFERS  RACE. 


quite  useless  for  clinging,  seem  to  be  a  comfort  to 
them.  More  often  they  are  running  and  jumping, 
especially  in  the  evening  time,  the  mothers  carrying 
their  naked  little  ones  nestled  in  the  fur  of  their 
stomach,  or,  when  they  are  older,  on  their  backs  ; 
and  whether  slow  or  quick,  day -lovers  or  night- 
Fig.  64. 


The  Aye- Aye  and  a  Lemur  in  the  forests  of  Madagascar. 

hunters,  these  happy  thoughtless  little  beings  flourish 
in  the  quiet  island  home  they  have  found,  cut  off 
from  the  struggling  world  beyond. 

And  among  them  at  night,  when  the  soft  clear 
moonlight  shines  down  on  the  thick  forests  in  the 


AMERICAN  MONKE  YS.  245 

interior  of  the  island,  comes  a  small  ghost -like 
animal,  the  "  Aye-Aye,"  with  wide-staring  eyes,  furry 
body,  and  long  bony  jointed  fingers.  He  utters  a 
plaintive  cry  as  he  creeps  from  bough  to  bough, 
stripping  the  bark  off  the  trees  with  his  strong 
chisel-like  teeth  to  find  some  worm-eaten  hole  into 
which  he  thrusts  his  skinny  fourth  finger  to  pick 
out  a  grub,  and  then  moistens  his  meal  by  drawing 
the  same  long  finger  rapidly  through  some  watery 
crevice,  and  then  through  his  lips  for  drink.  This 
strange  creature  too  is  a  kind  of  lemur,  so  far 
as  he  can  be  classed  at  all,  with  his  gnawing 
teeth,  his  hind  feet  like  a  monkey's,  his  large 
spoon -shaped  ears,  and  his  uneven  fingered  hands, 
with  strong  curved  claws.  At  any  rate  he  belongs 
to  no  other  group,  but  tells  us  once  more  the  old 
story  of  creatures  in  isolated  countries  putting  on 
strange  shapes  suited  to  extreme  habits  of  life. 

Now  between  these  gentle,  but  low-brained  and 
dreamy  lemurs,  and  the  active,  intelligent,  mis- 
chievous monkeys,  there  is  a  great  gap.  The  crea- 
tures most  like  them  are  the  little  Marmosets  of 
South  America,  which  run  like  squirrels  among  the 
forest  trees  of  Brazil,  feeding  on  bananas,  spiders,  and 
grasshoppers,  and  making  their  nests  in  the  topmost 
boughs.  But  these  marmosets  are  true  monkeys, 
with  expressive  faces,  and  the  peculiar  wide-spread 
nostrils  which  we  find  in  all  the  monkeys  of  the  New 
World.  For  it  is  to  South  America,  that  land  of 
the  less  advanced  forms  of  life,  that  we  must  look 
for  the  lower  kind  of  quadrumana,  with  side -open- 
ing nostrils,*  thumbs  which  move  in  a  line  with  the 

*  Platyrrhine  monkeys,  from  Plains  broad,  rhines  nostrils. 


246  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

fingers  of  the  hand,  and  not  nearly  so  much  across 
the  palm  as  in  the  higher  apes,  and  thirty-six  teeth 
in  their  mouth  instead  of  thirty-two,*  as  in  man 
and  in  the  Old  World  monkeys. 

None  of  these  American  monkeys  ever  become 
so  man-like  as  the  Apes  of  Africa  and  Asia,  but  in 
many  ways  they  bring  monkey-life  in  the  trees  to 
greater  perfection,  in  the  dense  forests  of  Brazil  and 
Paraguay,  and  even  as  far  north  as  Guatemala.  The 
lumbering  heavy  Gorilla  of  Africa,  though  higher  in 
the  scale,  is  a  cumbersome  fellow  compared  to  the 
nimble  little  thumbless  Spider  monkeys  of  the 
Amazons,  which  hang  by  their  bare  tipped  tails  to 
the  branches  and  to  each  other,  chattering  away  like 
a  troop  of  children  as  they  gather  the  bananas  and 
other  fruits,  or  catch  insects  and  young  birds,  or  fly 
screaming  with  fear  from  the  stealthy  puma  or  the 
fierce  eagle.  With  the  trees  for  their  kingdom,  their 
tail  for  a  fifth  hand,  and  the  warm  sun  to  cheer  and 
invigorate  them,  these  spider- monkeys  and  their 
quieter  friends  the  Capucine  monkeys  (often  seen  on 
London  organs),  and  the  Woolly  monkeys  (Fig.  65), 
lead  a  pleasant  life  enough,  till  misfortune  or  old  age 
overtakes  them.  Their  friends  the  Howler  monkeys, 
which  also  have  grasping  tails,  seek  the  deep  recesses 
of  the  forest  and  creep  quietly  from  tree  to  tree 
•until  night  comes,  when  hundreds  of  them  at  once 
will  make  the  woods  re-echo  with  their  deep 
howling  cry,  which  they  produce  by  a  special  voice- 
organ  in  their  throat ;  and  with  them  come  out  the 
little  Owl  monkeys,  which  sleep  by  day  in  the  hol- 

*  Except  the  marmosets,  which  have  a  peculiar  dentition  of  their 
own. 


INTELLIGENCE  OF  MONKEYS. 


247 


lows  of  the  trees.  These,  with  the  various  kinds  of 
Saki  monkeys,  which  cannot  cling  by  their  tails,  but 
have  fairly  good  brains  and  quick  intelligence,  make 
up  the  monkey  population  of  America. 

Fig.  65. 


A  Woolly  Monkey  and  child  (Lagothryx  Humboldtii),  showing 
grasping  tail.      (Proc.  Zool.  Soc.) 

Here,  then,   we   have  a  whole   group   of  quick- 
witted tree-monkeys,  which,  from  their  structure,  we 
12 


248  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


know  must  have  started  long  ago  on  a  line  of  their 
own,  wandering  down  into  South  America,  where 
they  had  but  few  enemies  except  the  boas  and  pumas 
and  birds  of  prey,  till  man  came  to  kill  and  eat 
them.  And  if  we  wonder  how  they  have  gained 
their  quick  mischievous  intelligence  in  those  quiet 
pathless  forests,  we  must  remember  that  though  a 
grasping  hand  and  foot  seem  at  first  sight  of  very 
little  importance,  yet  by  means  of  them  the  monkey 
moves  rapidly  from  place  to  place,  swinging,  leaping, 
running,  and  climbing  along  the  boughs,  which  are  its 
paths  from  tree  to  tree.  And  since  rapid  change  of 
any  kind  makes  the  eye  quick  of  sight,  the  ear  acute, 
and  the  brain  active  and  alive  to  take  in  new  impres- 
sions, it  is  no  wonder  that  the  monkey  mind  has 
become  alert  and  ready  during  the  ages  that  these 
animals  have  been  chasing  and  cheating  and  out- 
witting each  other,  or  tenderly  rearing  their  young 
ones  among  the  dangers  of  the  forest. 

And  now  if  we  turn  back  to  the  Old  World,  it  is 
not  so  much  the  smaller  active  tree-monkeys  that 
interest  us,  for  they  live  much  the  same  life  as  their 
American  cousins,  although  they  differ  from  them  in 
never  having  grasping  tails,  in  having  thirty-two  teeth 
like  man,  in  the  openings  of  their  nostrils  which  turn 
downwards*  like  our  own,  and  in  having  either  cheek- 
pouches  to  stow  away  their  food,  or  stomachs  with 
three  compartments  like  animals  that  chew  the  cud, 
so  that  they  can  keep  a  store  within.  But  in  spite 
of  these  differences  they  appear  outwardly  much 
the  same  as  the  American  monkeys  ;  they  leap  and 
jump  among  the  trees,  and  it  is  not  till  we  come  to 

*  Catarrhine  monkeys  ;  kata  downward,  rhines  nostrils. 


BABOON  COMMUNITIES.  249 

the  Baboons  and  the  tailless  man-like  apes,  that  we 
find  ourselves  studying  quite  another  kind  of  life. 

Imagine  an  undulating  country  of  corn-fields  and 
rough  vegetation  in  Abyssinia,  or  southwards  towards 
the  Cape,  with  long  ranges  of  rocky  hills  rising  up 
behind,  and  precipices  leading  to  the  narrow  defiles  of 
the  mountains,  and  then  picture  to  yourself,  descend- 
ing from  those  mountains,  a  troop  of  two  hundred  or 
more  large  hairy  monkeys,  with  short  tails  growing 
from  between  bare  seat-pads,  dog-like  faces  and 
something  of  a  dog's  shape,  as  they  gallop  clumsily 
along  with  all  four  feet  flat  upon  the  ground.  These 
are  the  African  Baboons,  and  they  form  a  goodly 
company,  the  chiefs  marching  first,  grand  old  elders 
with  stout  hairy  manes  to  protect  them  when  fight- 
ing. These  come  cautiously,  peering  over  the  pre- 
cipices, and  climbing  up  rocks  and  stones  to  survey 
the  country  round  before  allowing  the  troop  to 
advance  ;  and  behind  them  follow  the  young  males, 
and  the  mothers  with  their  children  on  their  backs, 
shambling  down  till  they  reach  the  fertile  grounds, 
where  sentinels  are  set  to  watch  for  danger,  while 
the  multitude  feed,  filling  their  cheek-pouches  and 
even  storing  the  corn  under  their  armpits.  Then 
when  all  are  satisfied,  if  no  alarm  has  been  given 
they  wander  slowly  back,  resting  by  the  way  to 
chew  their  food  or  drink  at  some  mountain  stream, 
but  never  leaving  the  company  till  they  are  safe 
back  under  the  rocky  ledges  of  the  steep  hillside, 
where  they  make  their  home.* 

For  these  baboons,  unlike  other  monkeys,  live  in 
hilly  rocky  places,  and  not  in  forests,  and  therefore 

*  See  Parkyns'  Life  in  Abyssinia. 


250  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

they  are  in  much  more  danger  from  wild  beasts, 
especially  the  leopard,  so  that  they  rarely  venture 
abroad  except  in  company,  and  lead  an  extremely 
gregarious  life.  Yet  though  they  run  on  all  fours, 
and  look  less  human  than  most  monkeys,  even  the 
lowest  baboon,  the  Mandrill  (easily  known  by  the 
coloured  swellings  on  its  cheeks  and  hind  quarters), 
which  has  many  points  in  its  skeleton  like  four-footed 
animals,  has  true  thumbs  on  its  hands  and  toe-thumbs 
on  its  feet,  and  uses  them  to  lift  up  stones  to  search 
for  scorpions  and  other  insects  ;  while  the  mother 
baboons  dandle  their  little  ones,  or  give  them  a  box 
on  the  ear  when  troublesome,  in  true  human  fashion. 

Moreover,  they  have  developed  great  intelligence 
in  their  social  life,  and  the  youngsters  are  soon  taught 
to  keep  silence  when  danger  is  near,  to  follow  their 
leader,  and  to  obey  the  sign  of  command  ;  while,  in 
their  turn,  the  leaders  will  defend  the  weak  and 
feeble  of  the  troop,  as  in  the  well-known  case  of 
the  brave  old  baboon  who  came  down  alone  in  the 
face  of  the  dogs  to  fetch  away  a  little  one  only  six 
months  old,  which  had  been  left  behind  crying  for 
help. 

Still,  notwithstanding  their  cleverness  and  courage, 
these  baboons,  with  their  long  hind  legs  and  dog- 
like  faces,  running  on  all  fours,  travelling  in  troops, 
and  feeding  in  the  corn-fields  and  meadows,  remind 
us  more  of  four-footed  animals  than  any  other  of 
the  monkey  tribe,  and  we  must  turn  again  to  dense 
forests  and  tangled  jungles  to  find  those  large  and 
tailless  apes  which  have  risen  highest  in  monkey  life. 

If  we  go  back  in  imagination  to  those  days  when 
the  wild  beasts  of  the  forests,  the  strong  elephants 


GIBBONS.  251 

and  rhinoceroses,  the  fierce  tigers,  lions,  and  leopards, 
had  not  yet  been  persecuted  by  man,  but  roamed  in 
great  numbers  over  the  whole  tropical  and  temper- 
ate world,  we  can  easily  imagine  that  a  set  of  animals 
which  could  climb  along  the  tops  of  the  lofty  trees  in 
impenetrable  forests  would  have  a  great  advantage, 
even  though  elephants,  rhinoceroses,  and  buffaloes 
were  crashing  through  the  underwood  below,  and 
the  fierce  leopard  was  on  the  watch  for  them  when 
they  ventured  to  descend.  With  their  tree -loving 
life,  the  monkeys  would  have  every  chance  of  escape, 
climbing  along  the  topmost  boughs  with  wonderful 
rapidity,  to  find  refuge  in  gloomy  recesses  where  they 
might  bring  up  their  young  in  safety.  And  as  they 
grew  in  strength  and  intelligence,  gradually  retiring 
to  the  thickly  wooded  part  of  Southern  Asia  and 
tropical  Africa,  they  might  even  succeed  in  driving 
out  their  opponents,  as  the  Gorilla  is  said  to  have 
driven  the  elephant  from  the  Gaboon  country,  be- 
cause he  interfered  with  the  trees  which  he  makes 
his  special  home. 

So  we  must  go  to  such  tangled  virgin  forests  as 
those  of  Sumatra,  Borneo,  and  Malacca,  to  find  the 
long-armed  tailless  Gibbons,*  which  once  wandered 
over  Europe,  but  now  roam  no  further  than  Southern 
Asia,  where  they  swing  themselves  along  from  branch 
to  branch  by  means  of  their  lengthy  arms,  which  are 
so  out  of  proportion  to  their  legs  that  when  they 
stand  upright  they  can  touch  the  ground  with  their 
knuckles.  These  gibbons  are  gentle  creatures,  with 
not  too  much  brain,  but  wonderfully  elegant  and 
agile,  which  is  more  than  can  be  said  for  the  intelli- 

*  Hylobates,  or  walker  in  the  woods. 


252  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

gent  Orangutan*  or  Mias  which  wanders  in  the  same 
forest.  He  has  shorter  arms,  only  reaching  to  the 
ankle,  and  he  climbs  half  upright  from  tree-top  to 
tree-top,  grasping  the  boughs  and  swaying  slowly 
onwards,  or  holds  on  by  his  toe -thumbs  while  he 
stretches  up  to  the  more  slender  branches  to  gather 
the  fruit  and  young  buds. 

A  strange  object  he  looks,  a  great  red,  hairy, 
man-like  creature,  between  four  and  five  feet  high, 
thrusting  his  huge  black  face  from  out  of  the  dense 
foliage  as  he  devours  the  Durian  and  Mangosteen 
fruits,  seated  comfortably  in  a  fork  of  the  tree, 
and  then  if  disturbed  he  is  off  far  more  quickly 
than  you  would  suppose  possible  for  such  a  heavy 
creature,  running,  climbing,  and  creeping  half  upright 
till  he  is  lost  in  the  forest.  He  rarely  comes  down, 
except  to  shamble  across  some  open  space  from 
one  wood  to  another,  or  to  drink  in  the  river, 
where  the  natives  say  the  crocodile  attacks  him, 
but  he  beats  him  and  carries  off  the  victory  ;  while 
in  the  trees  his  only  enemy  is  the  python,  which 
tries  to  encircle  him  in  its  coils.  Nor  does  he 
often  wander  in  company,  for  Mr.  Wallace  tells 
us  that  he  never  saw  a  father  and  mother  orang- 
utan together,  though  either  of  them  may  be  seen 
with  the  young  ones.  He  seems  to  lead,  on  the 
whole,  a  solitary  life,  and  when  the  sun  goes  down 
retires  into  a  nest  of  leaves  low  down  in  one  of  the 
trees,  and  sleeps  till  it  is  broad  daylight  and  the  dew 
is  dried  off  the  leaves. 

But,  though  the  orangutan  is  both  strong  and 
cunning,  he  is  not  nearly  so  human  as  the  intelligent 

*  Malay :   Orang  man,  utan  forest. 


THE  GORILLA  AT  HOME.  253 

and  docile  Chimpanzee,  which  shares  with  the  fierce 
Gorilla  the  dense  forests  of  palms,  amomas,  and 
gigantic  tropical  trees  of  Africa,  where  the  grass 
and  brush  grow  fifteen  feet  or  more  high,  and  the 
native  man  scarcely  dares  to  venture  for  fear  of  the 
manlike  apes.  In  these  endless  African  forests  there 
is  quite  a  population  of  these  wild  creatures  ;  bald- 
headed  apes  which  build  bowers  in  the  trees  ;  the 
Soko,  a  kind  of  gorilla,  which  loves  to  steal  the  native 
children,  and  always  defends  himself  by  biting  off 
the  fingers  or  paws  of  his  enemy;  the  true  chimpanzee, 
so  human  in  its  affection  and  its  fun  when  it  is  caught 
and  tamed  ;  and  the  fierce  gorilla,  between  five  and 
six  feet  high,  which  rules  as  master  in  Western 
Africa  near  the  equator. 

Though  each  of  these  tailless  apes  has  its  own 
advantages,  yet  the  gorilla  is,  on  the  whole,  most 
advanced  and  nearest  to  man  in  structure.  But  his 
legs  are  still  too  short  and  thick,  and  his  arms  long, 
reaching  to  his  knee ;  and  the  large  projections  on 
the  back  of  his  neck  bones  prevent  him  throwing  his 
head  well  back,  so  that  he  stoops  like  ~a  hunchback, 
while  his  feet  are  twisted  so  that  he  treads  on  the  out- 
side and  not  on  the  sole.  His  eye-teeth  are  huge,  his 
eyes  deeply  sunken,  his  jaws  heavy  and  strong,  but 
his  brain  is  not  one -half  the  size  of  that  of  the 
lowest  races  of  men,  and  though  it  has  foldings  very 
like  those  of  the  human  brain,  these  are  larger  and 
less  complex.  When  he  walks  it  is  not  upright 
but  on  all  fours,  resting  the  knuckles  of  his  hand 
on  the  ground  ;  but  when  he  is  in  his  natural  home 
— the  trees — then  his  long  strong  arms  and  broad 
naked  palmed  hands  grasp  the  boughs  with  immense 


254 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


power,  and  pull  his  heavy  body  upwards  as  he 
climbs  hand  over  hand,  his  twisted  toe -thumbed 
feet  clutching  the  branches  below  far  better  than  a 


straight  foot  could  do. 


And  so  he  lives  with   his  wife  and  family  in  the 
thick  solitary  parts  of  the  West  African  forests,  feed- 
Fig.  66. 


The  Gorilla  at  home. 

ing  only  on  fruits  and  leaves,  so  that  his  stomach 
becomes  large  and  heavy  with  the  amount  of  food 
necessary  to  nourish  him.  He  is  more  sociable  than 
the  orangutan,  for  several  will  travel  together,  but  he 
asks  for  no  shelter  beyond  the  trees  and  the  nest  of 


THE  GORILLA  AT  HOME.  255 

leaves,  which  is  his  home  and  the  cradle  of  his  young 
ones,  nor  does  he  seem  to  attack  other  animals  ex- 
cept in  self-defence,  and  then  his  gigantic  strength 
and  his  formidable  teeth  are  his  chief  weapons,  and 
woe  betide  the  creature  that  comes  within  his  grasp. 
It  is  strange  to  picture  to  ourselves  these  huge 
apes,  living  in  the  depths  of  lonely  forests  and  look- 
ing like  human  savages  to  those  who  can  catch  a 
glimpse  of  them,  so  that  the  ancient  Carthaginians 
landing  on  the  shores  took  them  for  "  wild  men  "  and 
"  hairy  women."  We  know  very  little  of  their  daily 
life,  for  .they  are  seldom  seen  except  by  those  who 
hunt  them,  and  who  have  but  little  chance  of  watch- 
ing their  habits.  But  all  that  we  do  know  teaches 
us  that  in  their  rough  way  they  have  developed  into 
strangely  man-like  though  savage  creatures,  while  at 
the  same  time  they  are  so  brutal  and  so  limited 
in  their  intelligence  that  we  cannot  but  look  upon 
them  as  degenerate  animals,  equal  neither  in  beauty, 
strength,  discernment,  nor  in  any  of  the  nobler  quali- 
ties, to  the  faithful  dog,  the  courageous  lion,  or  the 
half-reasoning  elephant. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  LARGE  MILK-GIVERS  WHICH  HAVE  CONQUERED 
THE  WORLD  BY  STRENGTH  AND  INTELLIGENCE. 

IF  we  now  glance  back  in  imagination  over  the 
almost  endless  variety  of  creatures  which  we  have 
met  with  since  we  started  with  the  fish,  we  must 
acknowledge  that  even  if  there  were  no  other  kinds 
than  those  we  have  already  mentioned,  the  world 


WIDE  RANGE  OF  HERBIVORA.  257 

would  be  very  full  of  different  living  beings,  and 
that  to  succeed  in  the  struggle  for  life  in  the  midst 
of  such  a  multitude,  new  forms  must  be  endowed 
with  great  strength  or  armed  with  specially  effective 
weapons. 

Such  animals,  however,  we  know  were  already 
in  the  field,  for  we  saw  at  the  beginning  of  the  last 
chapter  that,  together  with  the  small  rodents,  insect- 
eaters,  and  lemurs,  there  were  two  groups  of  much 
larger  animals,  first  the  Herbivora  or  grass-feeders, 
including  the  hoofed  animals  (Ungulate)  and  the 
elephants ;  and  secondly,  their  great  enemies  the 
Carnivora  or  flesh-feeders. 

Now  these  two  groups,  on  account  of  their  size, 
strength,  and  agility,  have  spread  very  widely  over 
the  earth,  especially  the  grass-feeders,  for  there  is  no 
part  of  the  world  which  has  not  some  vegetable- 
feeding  animal  in  it,  if  only  a  few  green  shoots  grow 
there.  It  is  true  the  Rodents  take  some  part  of 
this  green  food,  but  then  they  are  small  and  insigni- 
ficant compared  to  the  large  Rhinoceroses,  Elephants, 
Hippopotamuses,  Oxen,  Antelopes,  Goats,  Pigs  and 
Sheep,  which  roam  over  wide  spaces,  and  are  even 
less  restricted  than  the  flesh-eating  animals,  for  they 
live  in  the  open  air  or  the  thick  jungle,  never  in 
caves  and  holes,  and  their  young  ones  are  born 
wherever  they  may  happen  to  be,  and  in  a  few 
hours  run  by  their  mother's  side,  so  that  young  and 
old  wander  together  wherever  food  and  shelter  is  to 
be  found. 

And  so  we  shall  see  that  these  vegetable -feeders 
have  filled  every  spot  where  they  could  possibly 
find  a  footing.  In  the  regions  of  snow  and  ice  the 


258  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

reindeer  in  Europe,  -and  the  elk  and  musk-sheep  in 
America,  rake  the  snow  to  uncover  their  scanty 
food,  while  the  burning  deserts  of  North  Africa 
and  East  Asia  have  bred  their  camels  and  wild 
asses,  and  those  of  South  Africa  their  quaggas.  On 
the  prairies  of  America  the  bison,  and  on  the  plains 
of  Asia  the  wild  cattle,  feed  in  herds  of  thousands, 
while  the  zebra  courses  over  the  African  hills. 
If  we  look  to  the  tops  of  mountains,  to  dangerous 
crags  where  the  merest  tufts  of  grass  are  to  be  found, 
there  we  meet  with  the  goats  and  sheep  in  India  and 
Asia,  the  chamois  and  ibex  in  Europe,  the  big-horn 
sheep  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  of  America  ;  or  if  we 
turn  to  the  dense  forests  and  tropical  jungles,  there 
we  find  the  giraffes  in  Africa,  the  elephants,  rhino- 
ceroses, buffaloes,  antelopes,  and  wild  boars  in  Africa 
and  India,  some  feeding  on  the  branches  of  the 
trees,  some  grazing  on  the  grasses  and  lower  brush- 
wood, and  some  digging  up  roots  and  underground 
food.  Only  the  rivers  remain,  and  here  too,  in 
Africa,  the  hippopotamus  has  taken  possession, 
feeding  on  the  water  plants  and  wallowing  on  the 
muddy  banks. 

In  this  way  every  available  spot  is  used  by  one 
herbivorous  animal  or  another,  and  if  we  could  only 
trace  out  their  pedigree  we  should  be  surprised  to 
find  how  wonderfully  each  one  has  become  fitted  for 
the  special  work  it  has  to  do.  But  three  things  they 
all  require  and  have,  though  they  may  arrive  at  them 
in  different  ways.  Theyfrj/  of  these  is  a  long  face 
and  freely  moving  under  jaw,  with  large  useful  grind- 
ing teeth  to  work  up  and  chew  the  vegetable  food  ; 
the  second,  a  capacious  stomach  to  hold  and  digest 


DEFENCES  OF  THE  HERBIVORA.  259 

green  meat  enough  to  nourish  such  bulky  bodies  ; 
and  the  third,  good  defensive  weapons  to  protect 
themselves  against  each  other,  and  against  wild 
beasts.  Weapons  of  attack  they  do  not  need, 
except  for  righting  among  themselves  ;  for  being 
grass-feeders  they  do  not  attack  other  creatures,  and 
this  is  one  of  the  great  differences  between  them 
and  the  flesh-feeding  or  carnivorous  animals. 

We  need  not  look  far  to  see  these  three  chief 
characters  of  the  vegetable -feeders  in  active  work. 
Look  at  any  horse  as  he  grazes  in  the  meadow,  and 
see  how  his  under  jaw  works  from  side  to  side  as 
soon  as  he  has  a  good  mouthful.  A  peep  into  his 
mouth  will  show  that  he  is  using  broad  flat  back 
teeth  to  grind  the  grass  to  pulp  (see  Fig.  p.  262),  and 
he  will  go  on  eating  all  day  without  overfilling  the 
large  stomach  which  lies  within  his  barrel-shaped 
body.  And  as  to  his  defences,  if  he  is  vicious,  he 
will  soon  show  that  his  front  teeth  are  good  weapons, 
while  his  hoofs  will  deal  an  ugly  blow. 

Then  turn  to  the  cow,  quietly  chewing  the  cud 
by  his  side  ;  you  will  find  that  she  has  no  upper 
front  teeth,  but  only  a  hardened  gum,  upon  which 
her  under  teeth  bite  as  she  crops  the  grass  ;  but  she 
too  has  broad  flat  teeth  behind,  while  within  she 
has  a  stomach  with  four  compartments,  and  when 
she  has  filled  one  of  these  full  of  half-chewed  grass, 
she  lies  down,  and  with  a  slight  hiccough  returns  a 
ball  of  food  to  her  mouth  to  be  leisurely  ground 
down.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  to  animals,  such 
as  wild  cattle,  antelopes,  goats,  and  sheep,  which  often 
have  to  go  far  to  seek  their  food,  an  arrangement 
of  this  kind,  by  which  they  may  store  provender 


26o  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

in  a  larder  for  quiet  enjoyment  by-and-by,  must  be 
a  great  advantage.  But  the  cow  cannot  defend 
herself  with  her  teeth  since  she  has  no  upper  ones 
in  front ;  in  their  stead  she  has  strong  horns  which 
are  quite  as  dangerous,  so  that  an  angry  bull  is 
an  enemy  not  pleasant  to  meet. 

Lastly,  there  is  another  fierce  vegetable-feeding 
animal  almost  as  dangerous  as  a  bull,  though  we 
no  longer  come  across  him  in  England  ;  for  the 
Wild  Boar,  as  he  still  flourishes  in  the  forests  of 
Germany,  can  inflict  very  ugly  wounds  with  his 
lower  eye-teeth  which  grow  out  and  project  over  his 
upper  lip,  forming  large  tusks. 

So  we  see  that  while  the  vegetable-feeding  animals 
have  three  characters  in  common,  namely,  large  flat 
grinders,  a  capacious  stomach,  and  defensive  weapons, 
their  defences,  on  the  other  hand,  may  be  of  three 
different  kinds,  and  they  may  depend  upon  horns, 
hoofs,  or  teeth  for  protection. 

Now  in  the  beginning,  when  we  first  meet  with 
the  milk-givers,  these  defences  were  not  so  complete 
in  any  of  the  vegetable-feeders  as  they  are  now.  Of 
the  elephants  alone  it  may  perhaps  be  said  that  they 
had  large  and  formidable  ancestors.*  As  to  the  rest, 
the  huge  hippopotamus  and  sharp-tusked  boar  were 
only  represented  by  small  animals  ;  f  and  even  later, 
when  the  hogs  branched  off  in  a  line  of  their  own, 
they  had  at  first  only  ordinary  teeth,  which  did  not 
grow  out  as  tusks. 

*  The  Dinocerata  of  the  Middle  Eocene  of  America.  These  gigantic 
extinct  animals,  with  tusks  and  horns,  but  very  small  brains,  are  believed 
by  Professor  Marsh  to  have  connected  the  two  groups  the  elephants  and 
the  hoofed  animals  among  the  early  milk-givers. 

t  Anoplotherium  ;  for  this  form  and  others,  see  p.  256. 


THE  HOGS  AND  HIPPOPOTAMUSES.        261 

So,  too,  the  fierce  horned  rhinoceros  had  as  an 
ancestor  a  hornless  tapir-like  creature,*  and  the  grace- 
ful hoofed  horse  a  little  creature  no  larger  than  a 
fox,  with  five  separate  toes  on  his  feet.t  Lastly, 
all  the  horned  animals  which  chew  the  cud, — oxen, 
buffaloes,  antelopes,  and  deer, — were  nowhere  to  be 
seen,  and  in  their  place  were  only  some  small  ele- 
gant creatures  without  horns.  :£ 

It  is  only  at  a  later  period  when  the  flesh-feeding 
animals  grew  strong  and  dangerous,  and  the  vege- 
table-feeders had  to  struggle  for  their  lives,  that  we 
begin  to  find  the  remains  of  hogs  and  hippopotamuses 
with  tusks,  rhinoceroses  with  nose-bones,  and  fleet 
horses  which  could  take  to  their  heels,  or  bite  and 
kick  their  enemy  to  death  ;  of  stags  with  antlers, 
ever  increasing  in  size  ;  and  of  bulls  and  buffaloes, 
goats  and  antelopes,  with  true  horns.  For  not  only 
by  this  time  were  they  persecuted  by  the  flesh-feeders, 
but  they  themselves  were  becoming  very  numerous, 
and  it  was  the  strongest  only  that  could  secure 
feeding-grounds  or  carry  off  wives. 

It  is  very  curious  to  see  the  different  ways  in 
which  the  three  chief  lines  of  vegetable-feeders 
secured  these  advantages  to  themselves.  First,  there 
were  the  hogs  and  hippopotamuses.  The  hogs  did 
not  grow  to  any  enormous  size,  but  their  thick  skins 
were  a  great  protection  to  them,  and  their  eye-teeth 
became  their  defence,  growing  out  from  the  lower, 
and  sometimes  from  both  jaws  into  huge  tusks  ;  while 
their  broad,  round,  flexible  snouts  served  them  to  turn 
up  the  ground,  and  so  get  at  roots  and  under-ground 

*  Paleotherium.  f  Eohippus.  J  Xiphodon. 


262 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


fruits  such  as  other  grass  -  feeding  animals  could 
not  find  ;  though  at  the  same  time  they  did  not 
despise  snakes  or  toads,  and  have  become  omnivor- 
ous animals.  And  so  they  have  spread  nearly  all 

Fig.  67. 


The  Babirusa  ;  the  double-tusked  hog  of  Celebes. 

over  the  world  ;  in  Europe  and  Asia  as  wild  hogs, 
and  their  wives  the  sows  ;  one  peculiar  form,  the 
Babirusa,  being  found  only  in  Celebes  ;  in  Africa  as 


WILD  HOGS.  263 

large  Wart-hogs,  some  as  big  as  donkeys,  with  two 
pair  of  strong  tusks  curling  out  of  the  mouth  ;  while 
in  South  America  the  family  is  represented  by  the 
small  Peccaries,  which  travel  about  in  herds,  and 
have  no  tusks  to  show  ;  but  which,  nevertheless,  are 
bold  and  fearless,  for  they  have  within  their  lips 
short  lancet-shaped  tusks,  which  inflict  fearful  wounds. 
Only  in  North  America,  north  of  Texas,  no  wild 
creature  of  the  hog  family  now  lives,  though  in 
ancient  times  there  were  plenty  of  them. 

Meanwhile  the  warmth -loving  hippopotamuses, 
the  hog's  nearest  relations,  with  huge  grinding  teeth 
behind,  sharp  front  teeth,  and  tusks  within  their 
lips,  took  to  a  water  -  life  in  the  Old  World.* 
When  we  look  at  their  immensely  powerful  bodies, 
and  their  short  stout  legs  with  four  strong  hoof- 
covered  toes,  and  learn  how  rapidly  they  can  gallop 
on  land,  and  how  furiously  they  charge  an  enemy  in 
the  water,  snapping  their  great  jaws  which  will  kill  a 
large  animal  at  one  crunch,  we  do  not  wonder  that 
they  can  hold  their  own,  especially  as  they  always 
live  in  herds.  Yet  large  and  powerful  as  they  are, 
they  have  not  spread  far  over  the  earth,  for  though 
in  past  ages  the  hippopotamus  swam  in  the  river 
Thames,  and  grazed  and  left  his  bones  in  the  ground 
upon  which  London  streets  now  stand,  yet  after  a 
time  they  crept  down  to  warm  Africa,  where  they 
may  now  be  seen  lazily  basking  on  the  surface  of 
the  Nile  or  of  the  river  Zambesi  by  day,  and  making 
tracks  by  night  into  the  swamps  and  jungle  to  feed 
on  the  coarse  rank  grass.  They  are  well  fitted  for 
their  life,  for  their  thick  naked  skin,  with  pores  which 

*  See  picture  heading. 


264  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

give  out  a  fatty  oil,  keeps  them  from  chill  in  the 
water  ;  their  eyes  are  set  well  back  on  their  heads, 
so  that  as  they  float  deep  they  can  still  look  around, 
and  the  slits  of  their  nose,  and  the  openings  of  their 
ears,  can  both  be  closed  and  made  water-tight  when 
they  dive,  while  their  slow  breathing  enables  them 
to  remain  a  long  while  under  water. 

The  second  line  was  that  of  the  rhinoceroses, 
tapirs,  and  horses,  or  the  uneven-toed  animals  which 
have  one  or  three  toes  on  the  hind  feet.  They  took 
to  very  different  means  of  defence.  The  Tapirs,* 
large,  heavy,  and  with  enormously  tough  hides,  seem 
to  depend  chiefly  upon  their  great  strength  for 
defence.  Starting  in  warm  times  in  the  Old  World, 
they  have  wandered  in  their  day  nearly  all  over  the 
globe,  dying  out  in  later  times,  till  now  one  kind 
is  left  solitary  in  Sumatra  and  Malacca,  and  the 
remainder  have  found  their  way  down  to  South 
America,  where  they  tear  the  branches  from  the 
trees  with  their  short  movable  snouts,  and  feed 
peaceably  at  night  unless  attacked,  when  they  make 
a  furious  rush  at  their  enemy  and  conquer  by  sheer 
force. 

The  rhinoceros,  the  tapir's  nearest  relation,  is 
even  better  defended  ;  his  skin  is  so  thick  and  hard 
that  in  the  Indian  rhinoceros  it  actually  forms 
a  kind  of  jointed  armour  ;  his  skull  is  wonderfully 
strong,  and  his  nose  is  supported  by  thick  bones,  on 
the  top  of  which  are  one  or  two  solid  horns,  which 
are  formed  by  a  modification  of  the  hairs  of  the  skin 
growing  matted  together.* 

And  now  notice,  just  as  we  saw  that  the  horned 

*  See  picture  heading. 


THE  RHINOCEROS.  265 

cow  has  no  front  upper  teeth,  so  too  the  rhinoceros, 
though  his  horn  is  of  quite  a  different  kind,  has  in 
some  cases  lost  his  front  teeth,  which  he  does  not  need, 
since  he  rushes  with  his  horn  at  his  enemy  instead 
of  biting.  Like  the  hippopotamus,  the  rhinoceros 
once  wandered  all  over  Europe  and  Asia,  and  when 
the  great  cold  came  on,  the  woolly  species  which 
roamed  far  north  was  often  caught  in  the  frost  and 
snow  of  Northern  Asia,  where  his  fleshy  body  has 
been  found  preserved  in  the  ice.  Now  he  too  has 
taken  refuge  in  the  warm  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa, 
where  he  either  grazes  on  the  plains  or  plucks  the 
leaves  from  the  trees  in  the  jungle  with  the  fleshy 
flap  of  his  upper  lip. 

But  of  all  the  animals  of  this  three-toed  group 
the  Horse  has  the  most  interesting  history,  because 
we  can  read  it  most  perfectly.  The  only  certainly 
original  wild  animals  of  the  horse  tribe  now  living 
are  the  Zebras,  Quaggas,  and  Asses  of  Asia  and 
Africa  ;  yet  strange  to  say,  it  was  in  America  that 
this  tribe  began,  for  there  we  find  that  tiny  pony* 
not  bigger  than  a  fox,  with  four  horn-covered  toes  to 
his  front  feet  (and  traces  of  a  fifth)  and  three  toes 
on  his  hind  ones.  Then,  as  ages  went  on,  we  meet 
with  forms,  still  in  America,  first  with  four  toes  on 
the  front  foot,  and  then  with  only  three  toes  on  all 
the  feet,  and  a  splint  in  place  of  the  fourth  on  the 
front  ones.  In  the  next  period  they  have  travelled 
into  Europe,  and  there,  as  well  as  in  America,  we 
find  larger  animals  with  only  three  toes  of  about 
equal  size.  One  more  step,  and  we  find  the  middle 
toe  large  and  long,  and  covered  with  a  strong  hoof, 

*  See  p.  213,  and  picture  heading,  p.  209. 


266 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


while  the  two  small  ones  are  lifted  off  the  ground. 
Lastly,  in  the  next  forms  the  two  side  toes  became 
mere  splints  ;  and  soon  after,  in  America  and  in 
Europe,  well-built  animals  with  true  horse's  hoofs 
abounded,  the  one  large  hoof  covering  the  strong 


Fie.  68. 


Skeleton  of  a  Wild  Ass. 

?',  incisor  teeth  ;  g,  grinding-teeth,  with  the  gap  between  the  two 
sets  as  in  all  large  grass-feeders  ;  k,  knee  ;  ^,  heel ;  fy  foot ;  t,  middle 
toe  of  three  joints  carrying  the  hoof;  s,  splint,  or  remains  of  one  of  the 
two  lost  toes;  e,  elbow;  tv,  wrist;  //,  hand-bone;  I,  2,  3,  joints  of 
the  middle  toe. 

and  broad  •  middle  toe.  For  what  we  call  a  horse's 
knee  is  really  his  wrist,  and  just  below  it  we  can  still 
find  under  the  skin,  those  two  small  splints  (sw)  run- 
ning down  the  bone  of  the  hand,  while  the  long  middle 
finger  or  toe,  with  its  three  joints  (i,  2,  3),  forms 
what  we  call  the  foot.  It  is  by  these  small  splints 


GENEALOGY  OF  THE  HORSE. 


267 


the  horse  still  reveals  to  us  that  he  belongs  to  the 
three-toed  animals.* 

Now  while  these  changes  in  the  toes  were  going  on, 
the  space  between  the  front  teeth  and  eye-teeth  gradu- 
ally increased,  till  we  arrive  at  the  large  gap  now  seen 
in  the  horse  and  ass  (see  Fig.  p.  262).  The  chief  bone 
of  the  fore  arm  (radius)  increased  in  size,  and  the  other 
bone  (ulna)  became  joined  to  it,  and  the  same  in  the 
hind  leg.  The  brain  increased  in  size  mainly  in  the 
front  part,  and  the  body  grew  much  larger,  improving 
in  form  and  build,  till  the  long,  slender,  flexible  legs 
became  the  perfection  of  running  and  galloping  limbs 
such  as  we  find  in  the  zebra  of  to-day,  poised  upon 
a  strong  jointed  toe,  with  its  last  joint  broadened 
into  a  firm  pad,  and  covered  with  a  thick  nail — the 
hoof.  We  have  only  to  compare  the  well-propor- 
tioned leg  of  a  horse  with  the  thick,  strong,  clumsy 
leg  of  an  elephant,  to  see,  on  the  one  hand,  what  a 
shapely  and  beautiful  limb  it  has  become ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  if  we  put  it  by  the  side  of  a  giraffe's 
leg,  we  must  acknowledge  at  once  that  it  is  a  far 

*  The  genealogy  of  the  horse  is  so  important,  that  it  may  be  well  to 
give  a  table  of  the  seven  principal  stages,  though  transitions  are  known 
even  between  these. 


Period. 

In 
America. 

Front 
Toes. 

Hind       No.  of             In 
Toes.      Teeth.        Europe. 

(Recent    .     .     . 
7.   \       and 
\  Upper  Pliocene 

.  Equus  ) 

i 

T 

40 

Equus.    1 
Equus.    ) 

2  splints 

v  splints 

6.  Upper  Pliocene  . 

.  Piiohippus 

i 

i 

42 

— 

2  splints 

2  splints 

5.  Lower  Pliocene  . 

.  Protohippus 

i  large 

i  larj?e 

44 

Hipparion. 

2  small 

2  small 

4.  Upper  Miocene  . 

.  Miohippus 

3 

3 

44 

Anchitherium. 

3.  Lower  Miocene  . 

.  Mesohippus 

i  splint 

3 

44 

— 

2.  Upper  Eocene     . 

.  Orohippus 

4 

3 

44 

— 

i.  Lower  Eocene     . 

.  Eohippus 

4 
i  splint 

3 

44 

- 

268  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

stronger  and  more  serviceable  limb  than  if  it  had 
gone  to  the  other  extreme.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  when  the  horse  arrived  at  this  point  of  the- 
strong  single  hoof  and  well-shaped  body,  he  had  a 
wide  range  over  the  world,  both  Old  and  New  ;  but 
curiously  enough,  while  in  Asia  and  Africa  the  tribe 
branched  out  into  many  forms,  such  as  asses,  quaggas 
and  zebras,  in  America  it  died  out,  so  that  till  we  found 
the  fossil-forms,*  it  was  thought  that  no  horses  had  ever 
been  there  till  they  were  brought  by  the  Spaniards. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  Old  World,  they  must  have  led 
as  free  and  joyous  a  life  as  those  horses  do  now 
which  have  run  wild  in  Tartary  and  America,  gallop- 
ing, frolicking,  feeding,  and  neighing  to  each  other 
with  delight,  as  they  roamed  over  the  wide  plains 
in  troops  of  thousands,  for  solitary  wanderers  they 
would  soon  have  fallen  a  prey  to  wolves  or  jaguars  ; 
and  if  the  mothers  wished  to  protect  their  foals  they 
had  to  learn  to  follow  one  leader  and  act  together 
in  time  of  danger. 

"A  thousand  horse,  the  wild,  the  free, 
Like  waves  that  follow  o'er  the  sea, 
Headed  by  one  black  mighty  steed 
Who  seemed  the  patriarch  of  his  breed," 

they  grew  accustomed,  as  generations  passed  on,  to 
unite  against  their  common  foes,  placing  the  mares 
and  their  foals  in  the  centre  when  attacked,  while 
the  fathers  met  the  enemy  with  hoofs  and  teeth.  And 
so  they  became  intelligent  and  tractable  even  in  their 
wild  state,  to  those  of  their  own  kind,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  those  .noble  qualities  of  which  man 
now  reaps  the  benefit. 

*  See  table,  p.  267. 


THE  CAMEL.  269 

But  the  horses  were  not  the  only  group  which 
combined  in  this  way  for  protection.  The  third 
great  line  of  hoofed  animals,  those  which  have 
"  cloven "  feet  of  two  toes,  and  which  "  chew  the 
cud,"  have  learnt  many  a  lesson  of  vigilance,  fidelity, 
and  affection,  by  their  social  habits..  Everyone  has 
read  of  the  herds  of  antelopes  or  deer,  where  the 
sentinels  stand  faithfully  watching  while  their  com- 
panions feed,  and  stamp  or  whistle  when  danger  is 
near ;  while  in  the  herds  of  wild  cattle,  not  only  will 
the  mothers  keep  a  watchful  look-out  for  danger,  but 
the  bulls  will  join  to  protect  the  young  ones  at  the 
risk  of  their  own  lives.  Mr.  Allen  relates  how,  in 
America,  a  young  bison,  which  had  strayed  from  the 
troop  and  was  followed  by  wolves,  was  surrounded 
by  a  number  of  old  bulls,  who,  facing  about,  warily 
conducted  him  across  the  plain  till  he  was  safely 
among  the  dense  mass  of  buffaloes,  which  the  wolves 
dared  not  attack. 

Now  these  "  ruminant "  animals,  with  complicated 
stomachs  and  the  power  of  feeding  at  long  intervals, 
have  spread  far  and  wide  over  the  earth  under  many 
different  forms,  and  while  some  are  still  very 
numerous,  others  are  now  rare,  or  almost  destroyed. 

Take,  for  example,  the  Camel,  the  true  "  child  of 
the  desert."  There  are  no  wild  camels  left  now,  so 
long  has  man  conquered  and  tamed  this  useful  beast 
of  burden.  But  in  past  ages  vast  numbers  of  camel- 
like  forms  lived  in  North  America,  which  found  their 
way  on  the  one  hand  to  the  south,  where  the 
Llamas,  Alpacas,  and  Guanacos  now  feed  on  the 
mountains  of  Peru  and  Chili,  while  on  the  other  they 
travelled  over  Northern  Asia  to  the  deserts  of  Africa 


270 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


and  Arabia,  and  there  became  those  curious  desert- 
animals  which  the  Arabs  used  and  still  use  as  their 
beasts  of  burden.  A  strange  old  fellow  is  the  camel, 
with  his  two-toed  hairy  feet,  with  only  nail-hoofs 
upon  them,  and  his  hard  pads  on  his  thighs  and 
legs,  on  which  he  rests  when  he  lies  or  kneels.  His 

Fig.  69. 


The  true  Camel  (Camelus  Dromedarius). 

curious  fleshy  hump,  which  is  single  in  the  true 
camel  or  dromedary  and  double  in  the  Bactrian 
camel,  serves  him  as  a  special  provision  of  fat,  and 
it  dwindles  when  he  is  short  of  food,  recovering  its 
size  and  firmness  when  he  is  full-fed  again  ;  and  he 
is  the  only  cud-chewing  animal  which  has  kept  his 
front  teeth  and  defends  himself  with  them,  having 
no.  horns. 


THE  GIRAFFE  AND  STAG.  271 

Still  more  strange  in  some  ways  are  the  giraffes,* 
of  which  we  know  very  little,  except  that  large  forms 
like  them  once  wandered  in  Europe.f  For  they,  with 
only  the  same  number  of  bones  as  other  animals,  have 
these  so  lengthened  out  that,  as  they  wander  in  the 
tropical  forests,  their  slender  legs  raise  them  above 
all  other  animals,  and  their  long  neck,  which  never- 
theless has  only  seven  joints  like  all  the  milk-givers, 
enables  them  to  reach  the  high  trees,  so  as  to  strip 
off  the  leaves  with  their  ribbon-like  tongues. 

But  we  should  want  much  space  to  discuss  such 
curious  forms  as  these,  and  we  need  not  go  further 
than  the  ordinary  deer  of  our  parks  to  read  a  strange 
history  of  how  life  has  gradually  armed  her  children. 
The  giraffe  with  his  long  neck  to  feed,  and  his  wide 
straggling  legs  to  fly  swiftly  from  danger,  has  only 
short  hairy  covered  knobs  on  his  forehead  for  horns. 
But  the  stag,  who  is  obliged  to  fight,  especially  when 
he  wishes  to  secure  his  wives,  has  antlers  so  branched 
and  so  heavy  that  it  is  a  wonder  that  his  neck  can 
carry  them. 

Now  it  is  in  the  autumn  that  the  stags  fight  and 
struggle  together  to  secure  the  leadership  of  the 
does,  and  it  is  then  that  their  antlers  are  finest  and 
strongest,  and  they  remain  so  during  the  whole 
winter.  But  when  the  early  spring  comes,  the  bone 
of  the  antlers  dries  up  near  the  head,  where  there 
is  a  little  ridge  round  it,  and  soon  they  fall  off,  a 
skin  forms  over  the  place,  and  new  ones  begin  to 
grow.  Then  as  the  little  knobs  push  forward  and 
increase,  how  lovely  they  are,  for  the  skin  covered 
with  soft  hair  is  all  over  them,  carrying  the  network 

*  Cameleopardalis.  +  See  heading  of  chapter. 

13 


272 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE S  RACE. 


of  blood-vessels  which  secrete  the  bone  within.  So 
fast  do  they  grow  that  antlers  weighing  seventy-two 
pounds  will  be  complete  in  ten  weeks,  and  when 
they  are  finished,  the  "  velvet,"  as  this  soft  skin  is 
called,  dries  up,  and  they  rip  it  off  against  a  tree, 
leaving  the  bare  bone. 

Thus  equipped,  the  stag  is  a  match  for  the  world, 

Fig.  70. 


The  Red-deer  with  branching  antlers.* — (After  Ridinger). 

and  he  knows  it ;  his  bearing  is  proud  and  haughty, 
and  instead  of  flying  from  danger  he  will  turn  round 
and  fight  fiercely  when  attacked.  And  now  comes 
the  curious  part  of  his  history.  In  the  different  stags 

*  Compare  this  with  the  Deer  with  the  one-spiked  antler  in  the 
picture  heading. 


ANTLERS  OF  THE  DEER  TRIBE.  273 

of  the  world  we  see  all  kinds  of  antlers,  from  one 
single  spike  like  a  stiletto  in  some  American  stags, 
to  the  superb  antlers  of  the  Red-deer,  some  of  which 
have  as  many  as  sixty-six  spikes.  But  when  the  red- 
deer  begins  to  grow  his  antlers,  he  does  not  get  this 
splendid  tree  in  the  first  year,  he  has  only  a  single 
spike  ;  this  falls  off,  and  the  next  year  he  grows 
them  with  a  second  branch  ;  the  third  year  both 
branches  become  doubled  and  another  appears,  and 
so  each  year  as  he  grows  them  afresh  they  are 
*  more  and  more  complicated,  till  at  last  the  whole 
branched  tree  grows  up  in  a  few  months.  Now  in 
thus  increasing  his  spikes  year  by  year,  he  is  in  his 
own  person  most  curiously  retracing  the  steps  of  his 
ancestors  in  ages  past ;  for,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
first  deerlike  animals  had  no  horns,  then  as  the  ages 
passed  on  we  find  that  they  had  single  spikes ; 
later  on,  their  descendants  grew  antlers  of  two 
branches,  and  later  still  more  complicated  ones,  so 
that  the  race  put  on  little  by  little  those  magnificent 
antlers  which  now  the  red-deer  and  others  carry, 
and  meanwhile  the  various  species  spread  all 
over  the  world,  except  into  Australia  and  Africa, 
south  of  the  desert. 

Still,  even  the  stags  have  times  in  the  year, 
before  their  antlers  are  grown,  when  they  are  com- 
paratively defenceless.  There  remains  yet  another 
branch  of  the  "  ruminant "  family,  even  better  pro- 
vided with  weapons.  These  are  the  antelopes,  wild 
cattle,  and  buffaloes,  for  with  them  the  horns  never 
fall  off.  The  reason  of  this  is  that  they  grow  in 
quite  a  different  manner  from  the  stags'  antlers. 
Instead  of  the  bone  being  laid  down  by  the  skin,  it 


274 


THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


grows  out  as  a  core  from  the  forehead,  and  the  skin 
over  it  hardens  into  horn  as  it  grows,  so  that  the  tip 
of  a  bull's  horns  is  the  oldest  part. 

Here  then  we  can  have  no  branching  as  in  the 
stag,  but  on  the  other  hand  a  firm  and  terrible 
weapon  increasing  from  year  to  year ;  and  even  the 
king  of  the  beasts,  the  lion,  when  he  attacks  a 
large  buffalo,  is  often  seriously  wounded  for  his  pains. 
We  should  not  wonder  then  if  these  animals  had 


A  Buffalo  cow  defending  her  calf. — (Livingstone.) 

conquered  the  world  wherever  man  had  not  destroyed 
them  ;  but  strange  to  say,  they  have  kept  chiefly  to 
the  old  world,  for  none  have  travelled  to  South 
America,  and  only  the  Bisons  have  overrun  North 
America  with  their  vast  herds.  All  the  rest,  buffa- 
loes, wild  cattle,  antelopes,  gazelles,  goats  and  sheep, 
have  made  their  home  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa, 


THE  BUFFALO  TRIBE.  275 

and  a  fine  time  they  must  have  had  of  it  when  all 
Europe  was  one  field  of  undulating  plains  and  dense 
forests,  and  the  ancestors  of  our  cattle  crashed 
through  the  tangled  bushes,  drank  by  the  silent 
rivers,  or  grazed  on  the  wild  rough  herbage.  Then, 
where  town  and  villages  now  stand,  there  must  have 
been  scenes  such  as  travellers  still  relate  of  Central 
Africa,  where  amid  dense  jungle,  magnificent  forests, 
and  flat  marshy  grounds, 

" the  elephant  browses  at  peace  in  his  wood, 

And  the  river-horse  gambols  unscared  in  the  flood, 

And  the  mighty  rhinoceros  wallows  at  will, 

In  the  fen  where  the  wild  ass  is  drinking  his  fill." 

There  the  huge  buffaloes  come  down  in  troops  out 
of  the  forest  to  drink,  while  the  great  hippopota- 
muses leave  their  watery  bed  to  feed  on  the  rough 
grass  of  the  swamps.  Not  far  off,  a  herd  of  zebras 
comes  galloping  by  to  drink  lower  down  in  the 
river,  startling  the  large  antelopes  feeding  quietly 
in  the  soft  green  pasture  above,  for  they  know 
that  this  is  the  hour  when  the  lions  are  abroad 
and  will  fall  upon  any  straggler  with  tooth  and  nail, 
while  the  distant  howling  of  the  hyaenas  shows  that 
they  would  not  be  far  behind  in  seizing  upon  any 
weak  or  wounded  animal.  But  little  does  the  heavy 
rhinoceros  care  for  all  this  as  he  too  tramps  slowly 
along  on  his  way  to  drink,  for  with  his  size  and 
defences  he  runs  but  little  risk  of  attack.  Thus  all 
the  country  is  alive  with  large  milk -givers,  and 
we  realise  that  when  they  ruled  all  over  the  world, 
as  they  still  do  in  Africa,  they  too  must  have  had 
their  time  of  triumph  and  greatness  like  the  great 
fish  or  the  monster  reptiles. 


276  THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

But  hush  !  as  we  watch  this  scene  a  heavy  thud, 
thud,  strikes  upon  our  ear,  like  the  tramping  of  heavy 
troops  upon  soft  ground.  It  is  the  "  lords  of  the 
forest,"  the  large  Elephants,  which,  after  feeding  all 
day  in  the  shady  jungle,  are  coming  down  to  drink 
and  bathe.  What,  then,  is  the  history  of  these  huge 
antiquated  animals  that  they  have  not  come  into  our 
story  as  yet  ?  The  reason  is  this  :  as  they  stand 
alone  now  with  their  huge  flapping  ears,  their  column- 
like  legs  and  feet,  and  their  long  grasping  trunk,  so 
they  have  stood  apart  from  the  hoofed  animals 
almost  as  long  as  we  have  any  knowledge  of  them. 
So  far  as  we  can  judge  by  their  skeleton,  especially 
the  shoulder  blade,  they  come  nearer  to  the  gnawers, 
or  rodents,  than  to  any  of  the  large  vegetable-feeders. 
Their  legs  are  awkward  and  their  gait  clumsy,  for  the 
thigh  bones  are  enormously  long  and  thick,  and  the 
toes  are  enclosed  in  a  thick  pad  with  only  the  nails 
to  mark  them  ;  but  above  all  it  is  the  head  and  mouth 
which  make  so  strange  a  figure.  Look  at  the  huge 
forehead,  showing  a  skull  of  immense  size.  This 
skull  would  be  far  too  heavy  to  carry  if  it  were  not 
full  of  hollows,  making  a  large  framework  to  bear 
the  tusks  of  smooth  white  ivory,  which  grow  out 
from  the  upper  jaw  to  a  length  of  more  than  six  feet 
on  each  side,*  and  weigh  sometimes  from  eighty  to 
one  hundred  pounds.  Surely  a  wonderful  size  for 
teeth,  and  we  shall  not  wonder  that  they  are  the 
only  front  teeth  that  the  elephant  has,  and  that  they 
go  on  growing  all  his  life  from  a  permanent  pulp, 
like  the  gnawing  teeth  of  the  rodents.  But  if  he 

*  In  the  African  elephant ;  in  the  Indian  they  are  smaller,  and  the 
female  has  none. 


STRUCTURE  OF  THE  ELEPHANT. 


277 


opens  his  mouth  you  will  see  that,  besides  these,  he 
has  at  the  back  huge  flat  grinders,  one,  or  never  more 
than  two,  at  a  time  on  each  sjde  ;  but  those  are 
monsters,  with  hard  enamelled  ridges  for  grinding 
his  food.  During  his  lifetime  of  about  a  hundred 
years  the  elephant  grows  six  of  these  teeth  on  each 

Fig.  72. 


The  Indian  Elephant. 

side,  twenty-four  in  all,  the  new  ones  growing  up  at  the 
back  and  pushing  forward  as  the  old  ones  wear  away. 
And,  last  of  all,  look  at  his  wonderful  trunk  ;  see 
how  it  grows  out  straight  from  his  face,  his  cheeks 
merging  into  it  so  that  he  is  all  nose  ;  and  then  con- 
sider that  this  trunk,  a  double-barrelled  tube,  ending 


278  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

in  a  fleshy  finger  opposite  to  a  thick  cushion  which 
acts  as  a  thumb,  is  the  elephant's  arm  and  hand,  with 
which  he  feels  and  grasps  and  tests  everything  that 
comes  in  his  way.  With  it  he  can  pick  up  a  crumb 
or  root  up  a  strong  tree,  gather  a  leaf  or  tear  off  a 
branch,  draw  up  a  gallon  of  water  to  squirt  over  his 
body  when  heated  with  the  sun,  or  suck  up  the  few 
drops  in  a  puddle  when  water  is  scarce  ;  with  it  he 
caresses  those  he  loves,  as  gently  as  a  mother  strokes 
her  child  with  her  hand,  or  uses  it  to  dash  his  enemy 
upon  the  ground,  before  he  pierces  him  with  his  tusks 
or  tramples  him  under  foot. 

And  yet  this  formidable  and  delicate  weapon  is 
nothing  more  than  a  long  fleshy  nose  and  upper  lip, 
provided  with  millions  of  interlaced  muscles,  which 
draw  it  in  every  direction,  guided  by  the  delicate 
nerves.  If  we  did  not  see  it,  could  we  have  believed 
that  any  creature  could  have  gained  so  much  experi- 
ence, and  learned  to  do  so  many  wonderful  things  as 
elephants  do,  merely  by  possessing  a  movable  nose  ? 

Yet  so  it  is,  for  if  the  elephant  stands  far  above 
all  other  vegetable -feeding  animals  in  intelligence 
and  even  reasoning  power,  we  can  only  attribute  it 
to  two  causes — the  long  life  he  leads,  and  the  delicate 
implement  he  carries  for  testing  things  around  him. 
The  strongest  of  all  animals,  he  has  reigned  supreme 
for  ages,  even  the  lion  or  the  tiger  often  meeting  a 
terrible  death  from  his  trunk,  his  tusks,  or  his  heavy 
feet,  if  they  venture  to  attack  him ;  while  everywhere, 
during  his  hundred  years  of  life,  he  has  handled  and 
tested  and  tried  every  object  he  has  come  near  with 
his  fleshy  trunk,  till  now  when  we  examine  his  brain 
we  find  that  though  small  for  so  large  an  animal  it 


THE  CARNIVORA.  279 

is  folded  and  refolded  into  those  curious  convolutions 
which  are  always  found  in  highly  intelligent  animals. 
For  many  long  ages  this  education  must  have 
been  going  on  ;  for  already,  when  the  monkeys  and 
opossums  were  playing  about  the  trees  in  England, 
an  ancient  elephant  called  the  Mastodon,  having 
four  tusks,  was  roaming  over  Europe,  Asia,  and 
America ;  while  soon  after,  the  hairy  Mammoth, 
kept  warm  by  his  shaggy  coat,  wandered  right  up 
into  the  snows  of  Siberia  and  the  extreme  of  North 
America,  and  often  met  his  death  in  the  ice,  and 
true  elephants  ruled  the  world  in  Europe  and  India, 
continuing  down  to  our  day.  All  these  had  the 
same  delicate  trunk,  and  gained  experience  as  they 
wandered  over  the  wide  world,  till  some  have  become 
extinct  and  others  have  shrunk  back  into  the  dense 
forests  of  Africa  and  India,  where  they  often  give 
proofs  of  a  power  of  reasoning  which  surprises  us, 
and  make  them  seem  like  old  patriarchs  of  a 
bygone  time,  looking  thoughtfully  upon  a  world 
which  has  grown  new  and  strange. 

And  here  we  must  take  leave  of  the  Herbivora, 
and  turn  our  attention  to  that  large  army  of  flesh- 
feeders  which  we  find  throughout  all  past  ages 
harassing  and  destroying  the  vegetable-feeders  on 
all  sides,  killing  their  young,  falling  upon  the 
stragglers,  the  weak  and  the  aged,  and  keeping 
down  their  numbers  by  constant  persecution.  For, 
since  the  whole  world  is  teeming  with  life,  and 
countless  new  beings  are  coming  into  existence  day 
after  day,  there  is  no  creature  on  the  earth  which  has 
not  some  other  creature  to  prey  upon  it.  Thus,  for 


280 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFERS  RACE. 


example,  the  whole  host  of  small  animals,  rats  and 
rabbits,  moles,  shrews,  and  small  birds  of  all  kinds, 
have  their  special  pursuers  in  long  wiry-bodied  civets 
and  ichneumons,  weasels,  pole -cats,  ferrets,  pine- 
martens,  and  paradoxures,  which  can  work  their  way 
into  a  hole,  give  chase  through  the  long  grass,  or 
climb  the  trees  and  feed  on  birds'  eggs  or  young 
birds.  There  is  a  vast  multitude  of  these  smaller 

Fig.  73- 


The  Weasel  * — a  small,  long,  narrow-bodied  carnivorous  animal. 

flesh-eating  animals,  with  teeth  so  sharp  that  a  weasel 
will  kill  its  prey  in  a  second  by  piercing  the  skull 
by  its  bite  ;  and  they  make  sad  havoc  all  over  the 
world  among  young  and  weak  creatures,  while  a 
great  many  of  them,  such  as  the  weasel  tribe,  the 
pole-cat,  and  the  skunk,  are  themselves  protected 

*  Mustelus. 


THE  SMALLER  FLESH-FEEDERS. 


281 


from  larger  animals  of  prey  by  their  disagreeable 
smell. 

Then  the  birds  again  have  their  numbers  greatly 
thinned  by  the  wild  cats,  tiger-cats,  and  racoons  ; 
while  the  fox,  the  badger,  and  the  glutton,  do  their 
share  in  devouring  partridges  and  all  ground  birds, 
hares,  rabbits,  and  even  lambs  and  other  young 
creatures. 

Lastly  the  fish,  too,  have  their  pursuers,  for  the 

Fig.  74- 


The  Egyptian  Ichneumon,*  a  long-bodied  carnivore,  sucking 
crocodile's  eggs. 

mink  and  the  otter,  though  true  land  animals,  seek 
their  food  in  the  water,  the  sea-otter  giving  us  a  hint 
as  to  how  such  flesh -eating  animals  as  seals,  which 
are  the  great  fish-devourers,  took  to  a  watery  life. 
But  though  these  smaller  flesh-eaters  are  spread  in 

*   Herpestes. 


282  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

great  numbers  over  the  world,  the  civets  and  ichneu- 
mons only  in  the  Eastern  Hemisphere,  the  racoons 
only  in  America,  and  the  weasels  and  their  relations 
everywhere,  yet  the  war  they  carry  on  is  but  little 
seen  compared  with  the  ravages  of  their  more  impos- 
ing relations  the  wolves,  the  bears,  and  the  lions, 
tigers,  and  their  kin.  For  these  animals  seek  their 
prey  among  the  buffaloes,  antelopes,  horses,  sheep, 
and  hogs,  and  where  they  go  they  leave  the  track  of 
blood  behind  them,  and  appear  indeed  as  ruthless 
destroyers. 

And  yet  it  would  not  be  fair  to  speak  of  these 
larger  flesh-feeding  animals  as  if  they  had  worked 
nothing  but  evil  to  their  more  peaceful  neighbours  ; 
for  how  would  Life  educate  her  children  if  she  put 
no  difficulties  in  their  way  to  be  conquered,  no  suffer- 
ings to  be  endured  ?  We  saw  that  in  the  beginning 
the  vegetable-feeders  were  neither  so  strong,  so  intel- 
ligent, nor  so  swift  of  foot  as  they  are  now,  while  the 
flesh -feeders  were  not  nearly  so  well  armed  for 
destruction  as  the  tigers  and  lions  of  to-day. 

It  was  in  the  long  long  struggle  for  life  that 
the  animals  with  the  largest  and  strongest  horns 
got  the  upper  hand,  that  the  swiftest  horses  or 
antelopes  survived  and  left  young  ones,  that  the 
best  climbers  baffled  their  hungry  pursuers,  while 
the  most  intelligent  and  cautious  feeders  learned  to 
herd  together  and  watch  for  danger ;  while  we  must 
remember  that  it  is  more  often  the  sickly,  worn-out, 
and  diseased  animals  that  fall  a  prey  to  the  devourers, 
and  their  life  is  ended  far  less  painfully  than  if  they 
dragged  themselves  into  some  hole  to  die.  And 
so,  too,  on  the  other  hand,  with  the  flesh -feeders 


ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE.  283 

themselves.  It  was  no  wanton  cruelty  that  taught 
them  to  hunt  for  prey,  to  creep  stealthily  along  and 
leap  upon  their  victims,  and  to  take  advantage  of 
the  weak  and  feeble.  It  was  pressing  hunger  and 
the  necessity  of  providing  their  young  ones  with 
food  ;  and  they,  too,  have  often  suffered  in  the 
struggle ;  so  that  it  was  only  the  strongest,  healthiest, 
and  best  armed,  that  won  the  victory  and  were  able 
to  bring  up  their  children. 

Fig.  75- 


The  Wolf,*  showing  the  dog-like  form,  and  long  mouth  full  of  teeth. 

Moreover,  it  is  quite  a  mistake  to  suppose  that 
the  greater  part  of  the  life  of  a  lion  or  a  wolf  is 
spent  in  killing  and  destroying,  any  more  than  ours 
is  because  we  eat  beef  and  mutton.  The  Lion,  at 
any  rate,  never  attacks  an  animal  unless  he  is  hungry, 
and  even  the  wolf,  generally  considered  so  cruel  and 

*  Canis  lupus. 


284  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

bloodthirsty  and  pitiless,  spends  the  greater  part  of 
the  year  in  some  quiet  place  in  the  mountains  with 
wife  and  cubs,  only  hunting  for  their  daily  food 
(though  sometimes  he  is  guilty  of  killing  more  than 
he  needs),  and  playing,  gambolling,  and  resting  the 
remainder  of  the  time. 

It  is  when  winter  comes,  and  the  young  ones  are 
stronger  and  food  is  scarce,  that  he  grows  wild  with 
hunger,  and  starts  off,  with  a  number  of  others, 
to  scour  the  forests,  so  that  the  animals  fly  in  terror 
as  they  hear  the  howling  from  afar ;  and  even  the 
traveller,  driving  his  sledge  across  the  snow,  urges 
his  frightened  horses  to  their  utmost  speed,  since, 
with  a  pack  of  hungry  wolves,  even  if  he  has  fire- 
arms, his  life  is  at  stake. 

The  Wolf,  with  his  relations,  the  foxes  and 
jackals,*  is  the  form  of  flesh-eating  animals  which 
has  become  least  altered  from  the  general  type  of 
milk-givers.  He  has  the  slim  form  peculiar  to  flesh- 
eaters,  but  the  claws  of  his  feet  cannot  be  drawn  in 
like  those  of  tigers,  nor  has  he  those  powerful  hind- 
quarters which  enable  them  to  bound  and  leap,  or 
the  strong  paw  and  fore  leg  with  which  they  give  the 
death-blow  to  their  prey.  Moreover,  his  face  is  long 
like  a  sheep's,  and  his  jaws  are  full  of  teeth,  some  of 
which  are  blunter  than  the  tiger's  teeth,  and  more 
fitted  for  grinding,  for  wolves  and  dogs  are  omni- 
vorous. But  then,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  not  so 
much  of  a  vegetarian  as  the  bears,  nor  has  he  their 
clumsy  gait  and  cumbersome  body,  for  he  walks 

*  These  are  united  in  one  family,  the  Canidce  or  Dog  family ;  but 
this  name  is  unfortunate,  as  there  are  no  original  wild  dogs,  only  those 
which  have  run  wild  from  man.  Dogs  are  now  almost  certainly  shown 
to  be  descended  from  wolves  and  jackals. 


WOLVES  SOCIABLE  CARNIVORES.  285 

upon  his  toes  and  not  his  flat  foot ;  lastly,  his  front 
teeth  are  large  and  sharp,  and  his  fangs  strong,  for 
they  are  his  chief  weapons,  and  he  uses  them  with 
wonderful  effect.  He  is  essentially  a  running  animal, 
and  chases  his  prey,  rarely  leaping  on  it  but  tearing 
it  down  with  his  teeth.  Strong  as  he  is,  he  seldom 
attacks  an  animal  larger  than  himself,  except  when 
he  has  companions  to  help  him,  and  then,  indeed, 
he  makes  little  account  of  a  horse  or  a  buffalo,  for 
combination  and  co-operation  are  the  great  strength 
of  the  wolf  tribe.  Even  their  cowardly  cousins  the 
Jackals  hunt  in  packs  when  they  attack  living 
animals,  feeding  at  other  times  on  offal  and  the 
remains  of  the  lion's  feast.  Yet  such  is  the  power 
of  numbers  that  there  is  no  part  of  the  world,  except 
a  few  islands,  where  some  member  of  the  wolf  family 
is  not  to  be  found.  In  Northern  Europe,  Asia,  and 
North  America,  the  common  wolves  and  the  prairie 
wolves  hunt  in  large  packs,  and  in  South  America 
the  Red  Wolf  takes  their  place.  In  Africa  and 
India  the  jackals  wander  with  their  dismal  howl  ;  and 
even  in  Australia  the  wild  Dingo  dog,  probably 
brought  there  long  ago  by  savage  man,  is  the  terror 
of  all  peaceful  creatures. 

Nor  must  we  forget  the  cunning  clever  Fox,  with 
his  keen  face  and  bushy  tail ;  for  he,  curiously  enough, 
is  the  only  one  of  the  wolf  family  which  always  hunts 
alone.  The  reason  of  this  probably  is  that  he  con- 
tents himself  with  small  prey — birds,  rabbits,  and 
game  ;  while  his  burrowing  habits,  his  cunning,  and 
his  night-hunting,  enable  him  to  escape  destruction 
He  is  one  of  the  most  subtle  and  knowing  of  animals 
except,  perhaps,  the  jackal ;  and  the  fact  that  the 


286  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

pupil  of  his  eye  expands  and  contracts  like  a  cat's, 
especially  fits  him  for  night-work.  So,  although  he 
has  only  himself  to  depend  upon,  his  race  has  spread 
from  the  Arctic  regions,  where  the  Blue  Fox  wanders 
over  the  frozen  sea  to  eat  dead  seals,  down  to  Africa 
where  the  tiny  Fennecs  feed  upon  dates,  and  South 
America  where  the  Gray  Foxes  follow  the  jaguar, 
as  the  jackals  in  Africa  do  the  lion. 

And  now,  does  it  not  seem  strange  that  from  a 
family  so  fierce  and  bloodthirsty  as  the  wolf  family, 
our  own  true,  faithful,  large-hearted  dog  should  have 
sprung?  But  do  not  let  us  be  too  hasty.  Remember 
that  this  hunting  and  killing  is  not  for  pleasure  but 
for  daily  bread,  and  that  the  wolf  and  jackal  at  home 
are  good,  tender,  and  loving  parents  ;  and,  moreover, 
that  they  have  both  of  them  been  tamed,  and  shown 
great  affection  to  man. 

Surely  we  wrong  the  animals  when  we  call  bad 
men  "  brutes,"  for  men  love  and  forget,  but  a  dog 
will  die  on  his  master's  grave,  and  a  tame  wolf, 
whose  mistress  went  away,  pined  and  grieved  till 
she  returned,  when,  on  hearing  her  footstep,  he 
bounded  to  meet  her,  and  springing  up  upon  her, 
fell  back  dead, — his  faithful  heart  had  burst  with  the 
shock  of  joy. 

And  then,  also,  we  must  remember  that  the  family 
of  the  wolf  is  the  only  one  among  the  carnivora  in 
which  the  animals  hunt  in  packs,  so  as  to  learn 
sociable  habits  and  to  obey  the  will  of  others.  And 
here,  perhaps,  we  have  the  reason  why,  though  we 
have  tamed  the  cat  and  brought  her  to  our  homes, 
she  still  remains  half-defiant,  and  can  never  be  taught 
to  work  for  man  ;  while  the  dog,  on  the  contrary,  has 


THE  TIGER. 


287 


become  our  obedient  servant,  and  will  tend  our  sheep, 
guard  our  homes,  and  defend  our  lives. 

Loving,  and  affectionate  indeed,  as  she  is,  yet 
the  cat  will  probably  never  entirely  lose  the  free 
untamable  spirit  of  her  tribe,  for  if  we  search  the 
whole  world  over  we  shall  not  find  a  creature  better 
fitted  for  a  hunter  of  prey  than  the  wild  cat,  the 

Fig.  76. 


The  Tiger. 

Showing  slim  body,  muscular  thighs,  strong  front  legs  and  paws, 
and  short  face  with  large  teeth,  all  with  sharp  edges,  especially  one 
(the  carnassiat),  near  the  back  in  both  jaws. 

lion,  or  the  tiger.  Gentle  and  loving  at  home  with 
the  wife  and  little  ones,  patting  with  soft  paws  in 
which  the  claws  are  hidden,  and  doing  no  harm  to 
any  one  till  food  is  needed,  yet  when  they  are  once 
out  on  the  chase  we  see  that  every  part  of  their 


288  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFERS  RACE. 

structure  is  of  use  in  approaching  and  overcoming 
their  victims. 

Look  at  the  Tiger  as  he  moves  along,  crouching 
to  spring  upon  his  prey.  Here  we  have  no  round 
barrel-shaped  body,  with  a  tight-fitting  skin,  as  in  the 
horse  and  ox,  but  a  slim  slender -waisted  animal, 
which  is  lithe  and  nimble,  because  feeding  on  nourish- 
ing flesh  he  can  do  with  a  small  stomach  and  short 
digesting  tube.  So,  too,  his  loose  hanging  skin, 
forming  a  flap  under  his  body,  saves  him  from 
wounds  in  his  adventurous  life,  for,  when  seized  by 
teeth  or  claw,  this  skin  wrinkles  up,  so  that  even  if  a 
good  grip  be  taken  the  tender  flesh  underneath  may 
escape.  This  flesh  itself  is  firm  and  solid,  being  made 
of  powerful  muscles,  while  the  cords  or  tendons  of 
the  body  are  so  thick  and  strong  that  he  can  kill 
an  ox  with  a  blow  of  his  paw ;  and  under  this 
flesh  again  are  bones  polished  like  ivory,  far  more 
compact  and  firm  than  those  of  most  animals,  and 
bound  together  by  strong  ligaments,  the  rounded 
joints  moving  smoothly  upon  each  other  and  caus- 
ing those  graceful  movements  which  enable  him  to 
creep  stealthily  and  spring  upon  his  prey.  Lastly, 
the  tips  of  his  toes,  upon  which  he  walks,  are  clothed 
underneath  with  a  soft  pad  which  breaks  his  fall 
when  he  leaps,  and  makes  his  footfall  silent  as 
he  creeps  through  the  jungle  ;  while,  nevertheless, 
he  has  sharp  claws  hidden  within  to  strike  when 
needful. 

These  movable  claws  are  indeed  peculiar  to  the 
cat  or  feline  tribe  (though  the  civets  and  ichneumons 
can  draw  theirs  in  half),  and  they  are  caused  by  the 
second  joint  of  the  toe  being  grooved,  while  the  end 


STRUCTURE  OF  THE  TIGER. 


289 


joint,  curved  and  covered  with  a  horny  claw,  is 
drawn  back  by  a  strong  elastic  band  (/)  till  it  lies  in 
this  groove  so  that  the  outgrowing  skin  of  the  toe 
covers  it.  There  it  remains  so  long  as  it  is  not 
wanted  ;  but  when  the  animal  bends  its  paw  to  strike, 
another  band  or  tendon  (t)  under  the  toe  is  tightened 
and  the  claws  are  thrown  for- 
ward, burying  themselves  in 
the  flesh  of  the  victim. 

So  in  shape,  in  limbs,  and 
in  claws,  the  tiger,  the  lion, 
and  their  relations,  are  the 
perfection  of  hunting  ani- 
mals ;  and  when  we  examine 
the  well-formed  head  set  upon 


Fig.  77. 


the   strong  neck,  so   that  it 


claws  of  the  Cat  or  Tiger. 
A?  daw  held  back  by  the 


can  turn  widely  from  side  to 

side,  ever    On   the    watch,    we    strong    ligament    /;    B,    claw 

see  that  here  too  everything 
fitted  for  the  work.     Not 


s 


js  stretched  out. 


only  are  his  ears  so  quick  of 

hearing  that  the  smallest  rustle  in  the  grass  startles 
him  at  once,  while  his  large  round  eyes  have  a  special 
reflecting  mirror  at  the  back  to  catch  the  faint  rays  of 
evening  light  when  he  prowls  abroad,  but  the  whisker- 
like  tufts  on  his  face  are  so  provided  with  nerves  at 
their  base  that  when  he  raises  them  they  are  the 
most  delicate  feelers  to  guide  him  in  the  dark.  Then, 
instead  of  the  long  narrow  face,  flat  teeth,  and 
sideway-moving  under  jaw  of  the  horse  or  ox,  we 
find  that  he  has  a  large  broad  brain  -case  with  a 
well-formed  brain  within,  and  a  short  face  with  rough 
bony  ridges  upon  it,  to  support  powerful  muscles 


290  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFERS  RACE. 

which  move  the  lower  jaw  up  and  down,  so  as  to 
mince  the  food,  and  even  crush  solid  bones. 

Such  a  small  mouth  cannot  hold  many  teeth,  and 
the  front  ones,  though  sharp  and  pointed,  are  small, 
for  the  tiger  does  not  fight  with  his  teeth  like  the 
wolf,  but  strikes  with  his  heavy  paw.  But  the  eye- 
teeth  are  immensely  large,  strong,  and  dagger- like, 
to  hold  the  prey  and  tear  the  flesh  apart,  and  all  the 
double  teeth  behind,  especially  the  last  bottom  tooth 
and  the  one  to  match  it  above,  have  very  sharp 
cutting  edges,  so  that,  when  the  two  jaws  work 
against  each  other  they  divide  the  flesh  like  a  pair 
of  shears.  Lastly,  his  tongue  is  not  soft  and  fleshy, 
so  as  to  serve  for  tasting,  but  very  rough,  and  covered 
with  horny  pimples  which  serve  to  rasp  the  flesh 
from  the  bones  of  his  prey. 

Thus,  in  all  the  animals  of  the  cat  tribe,  such  as 
the  lion,  the  tiger,  the  jaguar,  and  their  relations, 
every  part  of  the  body  has  become  fitted  to  help 
them  in  the  work  of  destruction  ;  and  even  their 
near  relation  the  Hyaena,  though  he  cannot  keep  his 
claws  sharp  by  drawing  them  in,  nor  leap  so  well 
because  his  hind  legs  are  short,  makes  up  for  this  by 
his  immensely  strong  jaw  and  conical  teeth  with 
which  he  attacks  his  prey,  instead  of  using  his  paw, 
and  which  serve  him  to  split  open  even  the  strongest 
thigh  bone  of  a  horse  or  ox,  or  to  gnaw  the  ends 
to  extract  the  marrow. 

With  all  these  advantages,  we  shall  not  wonder 
that  the  feline  family  and  their  near  relations  were 
the  rulers  of  the  forests  and  plains  and  mountains 
till  man  came  to  conquer  them,  or  that  lions  and 
large  cats,  something  like  those  living  now,  together 


THE  LION.  291 

with  the  fierce  sabre-toothed  tiger  (Machairodus), 
roamed  over  Europe,  Asia,  and  North  and  South 
America,  where  the  crowds  of  vegetable  -  feeders 
offered  them  plenty  of  food.  They  were  even 
numerous  in  England,  where  the  lion  chased  the 
elk  and  the  wild  cattle,  before  he  was  driven  back 
to  Africa,  Persia,  and  Bengal.  No  doubt  in  those 
days  he  scraped  out  his  den  in  the  valley  of  the 
Thames,  as  he  still  does  in  some  quiet  spot  in  the 
African  plains  where  he  hunts  alone,  except  when 
his  little  ones  are  born,  and  then  for  some  time 
he  lives  with  his  lioness,  helping  her  to  provide 
for  them,  and  taking  out  the  cubs  as  soon  as  they 
are  a  year  old  to  teach  them  to  hunt,  to  leap 
upon  their  prey,  and  to  strike  it  with  their  paw, 
educating  them  like  a  true  father  in  getting  their 
living.  And  when  Jthey  are  three  years  old,  the 
young  lions  will  go  off  and  meet  together,  two  or 
three  in  a  party,  till  in  the  spring  each  one  seeks  a 
wife  for  himself,  having  many  a  fierce  battle  with 
other  lions  before  he  can  win  her,  and  finding  then 
the  use  of  his  thick  mane  in  protecting  his  neck 
from  the  teeth  of  his  rivals. 

So  the  "  king  of  the  beasts  "  lives 

"  On  the  mountains  bred, 
Glorious  in  strength  ; " 

for  though  by  no  means  so  large  as  people  gener- 
ally imagine,  compared  to  the  buffaloes,  or  horses, 
or  large  antelopes  which  he  attacks,  yet  his  immense 
strength  generally  secures  him  the  victory  over  all  but 
the  rhinoceros  and  the  elephant,  and  he  feeds  in  a 
royal  manner,  sharing  his  hunting  grounds  only  with 


292  THE  WINNERS  IN  LI  FES  RACE. 

the  leopard,  and  leaving  the  remains  of  his  feast  for 
the  hyaenas  and  jackals  following  in  his  track. 

Then  just  where  his  reign  ends  in  Bengal,  that; 
of  the  tiger  begins,  that  splendid  and  ferocious  cat, 
larger  even  than  the  lion,  which  spares  no  animal, 
and  will  fight  till  death  even  with  those  stronger 
than  himself.  When  we  see  our  own  house -cat 
playing  with  a  mouse,  striking  at  it,  letting  it  escape, 
and  at  last  giving  it  the  final  grip,  we  are  watching 
in  miniature  the  cruel  game  which  is  played  in  the 
dense  jungles  of  Asia  by  the  tiger  with  the  ante- 
lopes, young  buffaloes,  and  other  terrified  animals. 
Yet  when  we  see  the  mother  cat  caressing  her  little 
ones,  this  too  is  true  to  tiger  life,  for  though  the 
father  does  not  watch  and  care  for  his  children  as 
the  lion  does,  the  tigress  loves  them  with  the  utmost 
devotion,  and  attacks  all  who  come  near  them,  dying 
sooner  than  forsake  her  cubs. 

So  in  Africa  and  Asia  the  lion  and  the  leopard 
reign,  while  the  tiger  is  confined  to  Asia,  ranging  up 
to  the  snowy  regions  in  the  Caucasus  Mountains  and 
Mantchuria,  where  he  is  covered  with  a  warm  coat  of 
hair.  Yet  all  these  animals  have  but  a  small  king- 
dom now  compared  to  olden  times  ;  and  man  has  so 
cleared  the  ground  in  other  parts  of  the  world  that 
we  must  travel  away  to  South  America  to  find  the 
other  large  felines,  the  fierce  Jaguar  and  Puma. 
There  the  jaguar,  second  only  in  strength  to  the 
tiger,  carries  all  before  him,  making  havoc  among  the 
peccaries  and  the  herds  of  wild  horses,  and  even  fish- 
ing in  the  rivers  for  turtles  and  fish  ;  scooping  the 
turtles  out  of  their  shell  with  his  sharp  claws,  and 
conquering  every  animal  except  the  great  ant-bear 


THE  BEAR  FAMIL  Y,  293 

in  whose  embrace  he  has  been  found  dead  after  he 
had  also  killed  his  enemy.  The  puma,  meanwhile, 
contents  himself  usually  with  smaller  prey, — sheep 
and  rheas,  opossums  and  monkeys,  for  he  can  climb 
like  a  cat,  and  passes  much  of  his  life  in  the  trees. 
Thus,  though  the  cat  family  wander  over  the  whole 
earth,  the  larger  kinds  live  chiefly  in  the  warm  parts 
of  the  world  where  life  is  luxuriant  and  man  has  not 
yet  driven  them  out. 

But  these  are  not  all  the  wild  flesh  -  feeders. 
There  remains  a  third  group — a  lazy,  easy-going, 
lumbering  group,  which,  though  they  spread  from 
the  equator  to  the  poles,  have  taken  chiefly  to  tem- 
perate and  colder  regions  for  their  home,  to  mixed 
food  for  their  nourishment,  and  have  gone  off  on  a 
line  as  far  from  the  wolves  on  the  one  side  as  the 
lions  have  on  the  other. 

This  group  is  the  Bears,  and  it  is  a  very  curious 
one  in  many  ways.  For,  in  the  first  place,  though 
they  are  large  and  strong  animals,  they  have  very 
much  given  up  eating  flesh-food,  and  have  taken  to 
berries  and  acorns,  fruits,  vegetables,  and  honey.  To 
get  this  last  they  even  climb  the  trees  to  dig  out  the 
comb  with  their  paw,  trusting  to  their  thick  shaggy 
hair  to  protect  them  from  the  stings,  which,  however, 
they  sometimes  receive  rather  heavily  on  the  nose. 

A  glance  at  a  bear's  mouth  will  tell  at  once 
that  he  is  partly  a  vegetarian,  for  his  hind  teeth  are 
smoothed  down,  and  as  he  eats  he  can  move  his 
lower  jaw  slightly  from  side  to  side,  so  as  to  chew 
vegetable  food.  Even  the  Polar  Bear,  which  eats 
little  else  but  fish  and  seals,  has  these  same  grind- 
ing teeth,  and  he  can  be  fed  for  a  long  time  upon 


294 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


bread  ;  while  it  is  found  that  he  keeps  in  better 
health  when  in  zoological  gardens  if  he  has  some 
grass  occasionally.  Still  it  is  only  the  Sun  Bears  and 
Sloth  Bears  in  India  and  Malacca  which  never  eat 
flesh,  for  the  Bruin  of  our  northern  countries  often 

Fig.  78. 


Polar  Bear  *  and  Walrus.t 

Showing  how  the  Bear  walks  with  the  heel  flat  on  the  ground, 
and  the  Walrus  also. 

varies  his  food  with  deer  or  sheep,  and  grows  more 
ferocious  and  flesh-feeding  as  he  grows  in  years.  It 
would  almost  seem  as  if  his  very  laziness  and  awk- 
ward gait  may  have  led  him  to  take  to  vegetarianism 

*  Thalassarctos  (ursus)  maritimus.  t  Trichechus  rosmarus. 


THE  BEAR  FAMILY.  295 

as  a  convenient  change,  when  animal  food  was  not 
handy.  For  though  a  bear  can  trot  along  at  a  good 
pace,  yet  his  heavy  lumbering  body  and  long  foot 
with  the  whole  heel  touching  the  ground*  (see  Fig. 
78),  make  him  decidedly  not  well  fitted  for  a  hunting 
animal. 

How  different  he  looks  from  the  slim  wolf 
running  on  the  tips  of  his  toes,  and  the  graceful 
tiger  bending  his  long  hind  legs  for  a  leap  !  Yet  he 
is  a  formidable  animal  too,  for  his  muscles  are 
tremendously  strong,  and  his  firmly -planted  foot 
enables  him  to  rise  upon  his  hind  legs  and  give 
that  deadly  embrace  which  drives  the  breath  out  of 
the  body  of  his  victim. 

The  wolf  attacks  with  his  teeth,  the  lion  strikes 
with  his  paw,  but  the  bear  hugs  his  enemy  to  death  ; 
and  here  his  long  stiff  claws  serve  him  well,  for 
though  he  cannot  draw  them  in  to  keep  them  sharp, 
yet  they  are  rough  and  jagged,  and  inflict  dreadful 
wounds.  The  great  Grizzly  Bear  of  America,  which 
is  sometimes  nine  feet  long,  and  strong  enough  to 
drag  along  the  carcase  of  a  bison,  sticks  his  front 
claws  into  his  prey  while  he  tears  the  flesh  with  the 
hind  feet  ;  he  is  the  only  one,  except  the  polar  bear, 
which  lives  principally  upon  animal  food. 

In  fact,  the  bears  take  much  the  same  place  in  the 
animal  world  that  heavy  phlegmatic  men  do  among 
ourselves  ;  easy-going,  but  dangerous  if  roused,  they 
seem  to  have  succeeded  in  life  more  by  accommo- 
dating themselves  to  things  as  they  have  found  them, 
than  by  conquering  and  taking  by  force  like  the  wolves 
and  tigers.  Thus  a  bear  roams  leisurely  through  the 

*  Plantigrade. 
14 


296  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

thick  forest,  for  few  animals  care  to  meddle  with 
him  and  he  feeds  wherever  food  comes  easy,  espe- 
cially in  the  autumn  when  fruits  abound  and  he  can 
grow  fat ;  and  then  he  lies  down  to  sleep  in  a  cave" 
or  hollow  tree,  or  in  a  nest  of  moss  and  leaves,  till 
spring  comes  round  again.  Why  should  he  trouble 
himself  to  struggle  with  difficulties  ?  Unless,  indeed, 
food  is  scarce,  and  then  he  sometimes  has  an  uneasy 
winter,  or  attacks  animals  he  would  otherwise  leave 
alone. 

But  if  once  he  is  roused,  or  if  a  she-bear  is  afraid 
that  her  cubs  may  be  attacked,  then  you  see  that 
under  the  lazy  good-nature  there  is  plenty  of  pluck 
and  ferocity.  He  would  rather  be  let  alone,  for  he 
looks  upon  life  as  a  thing  to  enjoy  and  take  leisurely, 
but  if  you  will  have  a  struggle  then  he  will  see  who 
is  master.  And  this  kind  of  philosophy,  somewhat 
easy  for  strong  powerful  creatures,  has  stood  Bruin 
in  good  stead,  for  he  has  spread  over  all  countries 
where  there  are  thick  forests,  except  Africa  and 
Australia  ;  and  with  his  great  strength  and  shaggy 
coat  must  have  been  very  safe  from  attack  till  man 
came  to  annoy  and  worry  him. 

Even  the  polar  bear,  living  amidst  perpetual 
snow  and  ice  on  the  shores  of  Spitzbergen,  Nova 
Zembla,  and  Greenland,  has  not,  on  the  whole,  a  bad 
life  of  it,  for  he  is  master  of  the  situation,  and  con- 
quers and  devours  even  the  tusked  walrus.  The 
polar  bear  is  a  most  interesting  animal,  because 
he  shows  us  the  bear  tribe  becoming  adapted  to  a 
watery  life.  His  body  is  much  longer  and  more 
flexible  than  that  of  most  bears,  giving  him  the 
power  to  twist  and  turn  in  the  water,  as  he  swims 


THE  POLAR  BEAR.  297 

with  strong  broad  feet ;  and  his  long  neck,  narrow 
head,  and  small  ears,  are  all  fitted  for  a  watery  fish- 
ing life,  while  he  rights  entirely  with  his  teeth  and 
does  not  hug  his  prey.  Again,  the  soles  of  his  feet, 
instead  of  being  bare,  are  covered  with  long  stout 
hairs,  giving  him  foothold  upon  the  slippery  ice,  over 
which  he  travels  very  quickly,  climbing  up  from  time 
to  time  on  the  icy  hummocks  to  see  where  seals  are 
to  be  found,  or  to  scent  a  dead  whale  from  afar. 
He  is  an  inveterate  seal-hunter,  chasing  them  in  the 
water  or  out  of  it  with  equal  ease  and  great  cunning, 
though  they  are  quick  too,  and  often  escape  him  just 
when  he  thinks  he  has  caught  them.  It  is  when 
they  are  asleep  with  their  noses  upon  the  ice  or  the 
land,  that  he  has  his  best  chance,  for  then  he  will 
swim  warily  behind  them,  coming  up  close,  till,  even 
if  they  wake,  they  have  no  choice  but  to  be  killed 
where  they  are,  or  to  leap  out  on  the  solid  ice  where 
he  will  soon  overtake  them. 

The  polar  bear,  unlike  his  brown  cousins,  fishes 
and  hunts  all  the  winter  through,  and  it  is  only  the 
mothers  which  take  refuge  in  caves  hollowed  out  of 
the  snow,  where  their  little  ones  are  born  in  early 
spring,  and  nestle  down  by  her  side  in  their  icy  home. 
And  when  the  cubs  can  run,  both  father  and  mother 
care  for  them  with  true  devotion,  defending  them 
against  all  attacks,  and  pushing  them  before  them 
when  pursued,  even  going  so  far  as  to  take  them  in 
their  teeth  and  swim  away  with  them  when  they 
cannot  otherwise  save  them. 

So  we  see  that  the  polar  bear  has  become  more 
than  half  a  water-animal,  and  gives  us  the  first  hint 
that  some  milk -givers  may  take  to  a  thoroughly 


298  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

sea  life.  Neither  among  the  wolves  nor  the  felines 
do  we  find  any  animals  taking  entirely  to  the  water ; 
but  in  the  weasel  family,  which  comes  near  to  the 
bears,  we  have  the  otters,  and  among  the  bears 
themselves  their  polar  cousin,  which  reminds  us  that 
there  is  another  great  division  of  flesh-feeders  which 
we  must  study  in  the  next  chapter — the  walruses, 
seals,  and  sea-bears,  the  porpoises,  dolphins,  and 
whales,  which  with  finned  paddles  have  struck  out 
quite  a  new  line  of  life,  and  imitated  the  fish  so  well 
that  they  are  often  wrongly  classed  among  them. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

HOW  THE  BACKBONED  ANIMALS  HAVE  RETURNED 
TO  THE  WATER,  AND  LARGE  MILK-GIVERS  IMI- 
TATE THE  FISH. 

"  ON  revient  toujours  a  ses  premiers  amours,"  says 
the  French  song.  But  who  would  have  thought 
that,  after  rising  step  by  step  above  the  fish,  and 
tracing  the  history  of  the  backboned  animals  through 


300  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

their  development  in  the  air  and  over  the  land,  till 
we  brought  them  to  a  stage  of  intelligence  second 
only  to  man,  we  should  have  to  follow  them  back 
again  to  the  water  and  find  the  highly  gifted  milk- 
givers  taking  on  the  form  and  appearance  of  fishes  ? 
Nevertheless  it  is  so,  for  seals  and  whales  are  as  truly 
flesh-eating  milk-givers  as  bears  and  wolves  ;  nor  are 
they  much  behind  them  in  intelligence,  for  we  all 
know  how  teachable  and  affectionate  seals  and  sea- 
lions  are,  while  what  little  is  known  of  the  life  of 
whales  shows  that  they  are  devoted  mothers,  and 
their  well  convoluted  though  small  brains  are  a  proof 
that  they  are  by  no  means  wanting  in  intelligence. 

Yet  the  whales  and  dolphins,  at  any  rate,  have 
not  only  adopted  a  sea  life,  but  have  limbs  so  like 
a  fish's  fins  that  we  can  scarcely  call  them  by 
any  other  name,  and  they  are  so  completely 
water  animals  that  they  cannot  even  return  to  the 
land. 

Now  we  should  be  quite  puzzled  to  account  for 
such  curious  forms  as  these  warm-blooded  animals, 
half  transformed  into  fish,  if  it  were  not  that  we 
know  of  several  land  animals  belonging  to  different 
groups  which  have  gone  part  of  the  way  towards  a  fish 
life.  Thus  among  the  reptiles  we  have  the  oceanic 
turtles  and  the  sea  snakes  ;  among  birds  the  penguins, 
whose  wings  have  almost  become  fins.  Then  among 
the  milk-givers  we  have  the  web-footed  Duck-billed 
Platypus,  the  Yapock  or  web -footed  opossum  of 
South  America,  the  Desman  and  the  Beaver,  the 
Polar  Bear,  and  last  but  not  least  the  Otters,  web- 
footed  animals  nearly  allied  to  the  weasels,  which 
seek  their  food  entirely  in  the  water. 


THE  SEA-OTTER.  301 

The  common  Otter  of  Europe  and  America,  though 
he  moves  quickly  and  actively  on  land,  has  webbed 
toes  with  only  short  claws  standing  out  beyond  the 
swimming  foot,  and  he  spends  the  greater  part  of  his 
life  in  the  river,  making  his  home  in  a  hollow  of  the 
bank  beneath  the  overhanging  roots  of  trees.  There 
he  may  still  be  seen  in  many  of  our  English  rivers, 
his  soft  brown  fur  shining  as  he  swims  along,  diving 
under  water  for  a  fish,  which  he  brings  out  on  to  the 
bank  to  eat,  holding  it  in  his  fore  paws. 

But  there  is  an  otter  which  has  deserted  the  old 
land  life  much  more  completely  than  this,  for  the 
great  Sea-Otters  of  the  North  Pacific,  about  four  or 
five  feet  long  (see  Fig.  79),  never  care  even  to  come 
on  shore,  but,  when  they  have  dived  for  their  prey, 
turn  on  their  backs  and  float  while  they  eat  it,  hold- 
ing the  sea-urchins,  crabs,  or  fish,  in  their  front  paws. 
They  even  nurse  their  young  ones  in  the  same  fashion, 
dandling  them  in  their  arms  as  they  lie  face  upwards 
on  the  sea ;  and  they  rear  them  entirely  on  the 
thick  beds  of  kelp  off  the  coasts  of  the  North  Pacific 
Ocean,  never  bringing  them  on  land. 

These  sea-otters  may  be  seen  in  hundreds  off  the 
coasts  of  Alaska  and  California,  basking  on  the  wet 
rocks,  playing,  leaping,  and  plunging  in  the  water,  till 
some  alarm  makes  each  mother  seize  her  little  one 
in  her  teeth  and  dive  under  in  an  instant. 

They  are  twice  the  size  of  the  River  Otter,  and  in 
many  points  more  like  seals,  for  though  their  front 
paws  are  short  and  cat-like,  their  hind  feet  are  flat 
flippers,  with  a  long  outer  toe  ;  their  face  too  is  broad 
and  short,  and  their  teeth  are  neither  cutting  like 
the  weasels  nor  flattened  like  the  bears,  but  covered 


302 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


with  rounded  knobs,  well  fitted  for  crushing  crab- 
shells  and  the  bones  of  the  fish  on  which  they  feed. 
We  see,  then,  that  it  is  quite  possible  for  land- 
animals  to  have  near  relations  specially  adapted  for  a 
sea  life.  But  the  otter  is  still  distinctly  a  four-footed 
creature,  with  free  arms  and  legs,  and  we  can  trace  his 
connection  with  the  weasel  tribe.  It  is  quite  different 

Fig-  79- 


Sea-Otter.*—  (From  Wolf.} 
Showing  the  front  paws,  and  the  hind  webbed  feet. 

with  the  three  groups  of  real  fin-footed  animals — the 
Seals  and  Walruses,  the  Manatees,  and  the  Whales. 
Though  we  can  trace  their  likeness  bone  by  bone  to 
the  land  animals,  yet  they  have  become  so  different 
as  to  show  that  they  must  have  branched  off  long  long 
ago  ;  so  long  indeed  that  we  cannot  even  guess  at  the 

*  Enhydra  marina. 


THE  SEALS.  303 

relations  of  the  whales,  while  the  seals  have  only  a 
distant  resemblance  to  the  bear  family,  and  the  sea- 
cows  or  manatees  to  the  ancestors  of  the  hoofed 
animals  and  elephants.  Nor  shall  we  wonder  to 
find  the  whales  so  much  the  most  fitted  for  the  sea, 
when  we  learn  that  they  were  already  living  in  the 
water  when  we  first  meet  with  the  great  army  of 
milk-givers  (see  p.  211)  just  after  the  Chalk  Period, 
so  that  they  have  probably  had  a  much  longer  spell 
of  watery  life  than  the  seals  and  sea-cows,  whose 
remains  we  only  find  later. 

Yet  even  the  seals  are  so  much  altered  from  any- 
thing we  see  on  land,  that  few  people  would  believe 
at  first  sight  that  they  have  the  same  skeleton  as  a 
bear.  We  need  not  leave  the  British  shores  to  study 
these  pretty  creatures,  for  they  still  come  to  the 
coasts  of  Wales,  Cornwall,  and  Ireland  ;  while  in  the 
Hebrides  they  may  be  seen  lying  fast  asleep  on  the 
rocks  at  low  tide  out  at  sea,  one,  placed  higher  than 
the  rest,  keeping  awake  as  sentinel  to  give  warning 
at  the  least  approach  of  danger. 

But  if  we  begin  our  study  with  the  common  seal 
we  shall  be  much  puzzled,  for  he  is  very  unlike  a 
land  animal.  His  round  neckless  body  tapering 
away  to  the  tail,  where  the  hind  flippers  stretch  out 
behind  like  fish's  fins,  reminds  us  far  more  of  a 
tunny  fish  than  of  a  four-footed  milk-giver ;  while 
the  front  flippers,  coming  out  so  finlike  from  his  side, 
give  us  very  little  idea  of  legs  (see  Fig.  81).  No! 
in  order  to  compare  these  fin-footed  *  creatures  with 
land  animals  we  shall  do  far  better  to  travel  up  to 
the  Aleutian  Islands  at  the  entrance  of  Behring's 

*  Pinnipedia. 


3°4 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


Straits,  and  visit  the  Fur  Seals  and  Sea  Lions,  from 
which  we  get  our  seal-skins,  and  the  Walruses  which 
sometimes  lie  there  sleeping  on  the  rocks,  though 
their  real  home  is  farther  north  within  the  Arctic 
Circle,  round  the  coasts  of  Nova  Zembla,  Spitz- 
bergen,  and  Greenland. 

These  creatures,  although  they  have  "  flippers," 

Fig.  80. 


Skeleton  of  a  Sea  Lion. 

Showing  how  the  whole  foot  rests  on  the  ground,  as  in  the  Bear 
Family. 

th,  thigh;  /,   leg;  //,   heel;/  foot;  a,   upper  -  arm  ;  fa,  fore  arm; 
ha,  hand. 

and  are  truly  fin-footed,  are  much  more  like  land 
animals  than  the  smaller  seals,  for  they  plant  their 
whole  foot  on  the  ground  as  a  bear  does,  and  walk, 
or,  more  properly,  "  flop  along "  on  all  fours.  A 
mere  glance  at  the  skeleton  of  the  sea  lion,  which  is 
one  of  these  higher  kind  of  seals  with  a  slight  outer 


THE  FUR  SEAL.  305 

ear,*  shows  that  it  is  a  four-footed  animal,  with  five 
toes  to  each  foot,  the  great  toes  and  the  thumbs 
being  the  largest.  We  can  see  distinctly  the  short 
thighs  and  the  long  shanks,  which  give  the  hind 
flippers  their  lanky  appearance,  and  we  see,  too,  the 
broad  stumpy  arms,  which  give  such  strength  to  the 
front  flippers  in  swimming.  For  the  eared  seals  and 
walruses  use  their  fore  flippers  very  much  in  the 
water,  while  the  true  seals  swim  almost  entirely  with 
the  hind  flippers,  and  use  the  front  ones  chiefly  for 
guiding  themselves. 

And  now  if  we  turn  to  the  living  fur  seal  we  find 
that  the  reasons  are  twofold  which  make  us  forget 
that  his  limbs  are  legs.  In  the  first  place,  the  skin 
of  his  body  comes  down  very  low  over  his  arms 
(see  Fig.  81),  while  the  hand  is  encased  in  skin,  with 
only  mere  traces  of  nails  upon  it.  Then  as  regards 
his  hind  legs,  not  only  are  the  feet  made  into  flippers, 
in  which  the  toes  are  joined  by  a  loose  flexible  skin, 
so  that  they  can  move  them  freely  when  swimming, 
but  the  legs  themselves  are  strapped  back  by  a  skin 
passing  right  across  his  tail,  so  that  his  thighs  are 
kept  flat  against  his  side,  and  only  the  lower  part  of 
the  legs  has  power  to  move.  We  lose  sight,  then, 
of  the  limbs,  and  see  very  little  more  than  the  feet, 
which  are  disguised  by  being  turned  into  flippers. 

Now  if  we  once  think  what  is  the  object  of  a 
seal's  life,  this  curious  change  in  its  body  is  at  once 
explained.  For  seals  are  the  hunters  of  the  sea  ; 
fish -food  is  to  them  what  flesh -food  is  to  lions, 
wolves,  and  bears,  only  that  they  have  a  much  wider 
field  to  hunt  in,  for  they  have  the  whole  ocean 

*  Otariidae  (oust  otos,  an  ear),  eared  Seals. 


306 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


for  their  feeding  ground,  and  no  one  to  dispute  it 
with  them  but  the  sea-otter  in  places  near  the  land, 
and  the  porpoises  and  other  fish-feeding  whales  out 
at  sea.  In  consequence  of  this  we  find  seals  of  some 
kind  in  almost  all  parts  of  the  world,  except  the 
Indian  Ocean,  though  they  evidently  prefer  the  cooler 
regions.  Even  the  large  sea  lions  live  in  the  North 
Pacific,  as  far  up  as  the  Aleutian  Isles,  and  in  the 
South  Pacific  down  to  the  Falkland  Islands  and 

Fig.  8 1. 


A  Fur  Seal,*  one  of  the  Sea  Lions  ;  and  a  common  Seal.f 
Showing  how  the  Sea  Lion  walks  on  the  flat  hind  feet,  while  the 
seal's  flippers  lie  back  in  a  line  with  the  body  ;  note  also  the  absence 
of  an  external  ear  in  the  seal. 

Kerguelen's  Land,  and  play  about  the  shores  of  the 
Cape,  New  Zealand,  and  Australia. 

They  have  evidently  been  very  successful  in 
exchanging  flesh-feeding  for  fish-feeding,  and  if  we 
consider  for  a  moment  what  changes  a  four-footed 
land  animal  would  wish  to  make  in  its  body  in  order 


*Callorhinus  (Otaria)  ursinus. 


t  Phoca  vitulina. 


THE  FUR  SEAL.  307 

to  swim  and  dive  in  the  water,  we  shall  see  that  these 
changes  have  taken  place  in  the  seals. 

First,  a  flexible  body  is  required  to  wind  and 
twist  rapidly  in  the  water,  and  this  the  seal  arrives  at 
by  having  the  cushions  of  gristle  between  its  joints 
very  large  and  thick,  while  even  its  ribs  are  joined 
to  its  back  by  gristly  rods,  making  its  whole  body 
very  lissom.  Next,  a  small  head,  offering  little 
resistance  to  the  water  is  an  advantage,  and  this  we 
find  in  all  seals,  while  the  short  neck  and  extremely 
sloping  narrow  shoulders  well  encased  in  fat,  make 
the  body  slope  away  gently  with  no  jutting  angles, 
but  a  round  smooth  surface  from  head  to  tail  where 
it  narrows  like  the  tail  of  a  fish.  The  next  step  is 
to  do  away  with  long  angular  arms  and  legs,  which 
would  impede  it  in  diving  and  swimming,  and  here 
the  seal  meets  the  difficulty,  not  by  losing  its  leg 
and  arm  bones,  but  by  having  them  so  shortened 
and  encased  in  the  skin  that  only  the  useful  broad 
flippers  are  free,  while  the  hind  legs  are  set  upon  a 
very  narrow  hip  joint  (see  Fig.  80),  so  that  they  bend 
backwards  and  work  close  to  the  body.  Lastly,  such 
a  warm-blooded  animal  would  want  clothing  to  pre- 
vent it  from  being  chilled  in  icy  cold  water,  and  here 
we  find  two  protections.  First,  under  the  skin  is  a 
layer  of  oily  fat,  which,  while  it  reminds  us  of  the 
fat  accumulated  by  bears  before  they  settle  down  to 
their  winter's  sleep,  has  become  in  the  seals  a  dense 
oily  mass,  acting  like  a  thick  blanket  in  keeping  up 
the  warmth  of  the  body  ;  and  secondly,  the  seal,  like 
its  distant  relations  the  bears,  has  a  dense  furry 
covering,  and  over  this  a  number  of  coarse  long  hairs, 
which  give  it  that  shining  oily  look  we  notice  in  all 


3o8  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

seals.  No  doubt  every  one  has  wondered,  when 
watching  seals  in  zoological  gardens,  where  the  fur 
can  be  which  makes  our  sealskin  muffs  a'nd  jackets. 
The  fact  is,  that  this  under  fur  is  quite  out  of  sight  in 
the  living  seal,  being  covered  by  the  coarse  hairs  ;  but 
if  we  could  turn  these  aside,  even  in  common  seals,  we 
should  see  the  soft  undergrowth  beneath,  and  in  the 
fur  seals  it  is  much  thicker.  Now  the  roots  of  these 
coarse  hairs  are  deeper  in  the  flesh  than  the  roots  of 
the  soft  undergrowth,  and  when  the  uppermost  layer 
of  the  skin  on  which  the  fur  grows  is  sliced  off,  the 
coarse  hairs  are  cut  away  from  their  deep  roots  below, 
and  can  then  be  pulled  out,  leaving  only  the  fur 
behind. 

The  seals  then,  while  they  are  in  all  main  points 
constructed  like  land  animals,  have  gained  many 
advantages,  not  by  having  new  parts,  but  by  the  old 
ones  becoming  so  modified  as  to  make  them  admirably 
fitted  for  a  watery  life  ;  and  when  we  add  that  they 
have  large  eyes  well  adapted  for  seeing  under  water, 
keen  ears  with  little  or  no  outer  ear,  which  would 
be  useless,  but  a  very  acute  hearing  apparatus  within, 
and  nostrils  which  will  close  firmly  and  keep  the  air 
in  and  the  water  out  when  they  dive,  we  must 
acknowledge  that  they  make  good  use  of  all  parts 
of  their  body.  Indeed,  their  breathing  apparatus  is 
the  most  curious  of  all,  for  they  can  remain  under 
water  sometimes  for  twenty  minutes,  and  meanwhile 
the  circulation  of  their  blood  is  probably  controlled 
by  large  reservoirs  in  the  veins,  which  prevent  it 
going  back  to  the  heart  and  lungs  till  it  can  be 
purified  by  fresh  breath. 

Now,  if  all  these  changes  from  a  land  to  a  water- 


HABITS  OF  THE  WALRUS.  309 

frequenting  animal  have  been  made  gradually,  we 
shall  expect  to  find  some  forms  less  altered  than 
others,  and  so  it  is.  The  Walrus,  which  is  not  a 
seal,  but  a  creature  with  a  thick  hide  having  no  fur 
and  only  a  few  scattered  hairs  upon  it,  and  long  tusks 
in  his  mouth,  is  much  more  of  a  land-animal  than 
the  seals.  He  passes  a  great  part  of  his  life  saunter- 
ing along  on  the  low  shores  of  the  Arctic  seas,  digging 
up  mussels,  cockles,  and  clams  with  his  long  canine 
teeth  or  tusks  ;  and  in  accordance  with  this  we  find 
that  his  hind  legs  are  much  freer  than  even  those  of 
the  sea-lions,  for  the  skin  binding  them  to  his  body 
is  broader  and  his  hips  are  stronger,  so  that,  as  he 
throws  his  front  flippers  forwards,  he  can  also  throw 
out  his  feet  and  walk  on  all  fours  in  a  strange  strad- 
dling manner.  He  is  remarkably  fierce  and  strong, 
and  Captain  Scoresby  caught  one  once  in  the  act  of 
killing  and  eating  a  large  narwhal,  so  that  they  are 
evidently  not  afraid  of  attacking  even  large  animals. 
The  walrus  is  even  said  to  stand  at  bay  on  shore  and 
fight  his  great  destroyer  the  polar  bear,  throwing  up 
his  head  so  as  to  strike  forcibly  with  his  sharp  tusks, 
but  in  this  battle  he  is  generally  defeated.  His  tusks 
alone  would  suggest  that  he  lives  a  good  deal  on  land 
exposed  to  dangers,  for  his  more  aquatic  relations 
the  seals  are  without  tusks,  and  though  their  teeth 
are  sharp  enough,  and  they  fight  among  themselves, 
yet  their  way  of  escaping  the  great  tyrant  of  the  ice- 
fields is  to  slip  into  the  water. 

Beyond  his  tusks,  and  the  fact  that  by  sleeping 
many  weeks  on  the  ice  in  autumn  he  reminds  us  of 
the  bears,  the  walrus's  life  is  not  very  interesting. 
They  live  in  large  shoals  in  the  Arctic  sea,  climbing 


3io  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

the  rocks  and  ice  with  the  help  of  their  tusks,  which 
they  drive  into  the  crevices  and  so  haul  themselves  up. 
During  the  colder  times  just  before  our  own,  they 
came  down  into  much  lower  latitudes  than  now,  and 
we  find  their  bones  as  far  south  as  England  in  Europe 
and  Virginia  in  America,  and  even  in  our  day  one 
has  been  seen  off  the  west  coast  of  Skye ;  but  we 
knovv  very  little  of  their  daily  life  or  how  they  bring 
up  their  young  ones. 

Of  Fur  Seals  and  Sea  Lions,  however,  we  know  a 
good  deal,  and  a  singular  history  it  is.  They  spend 
the  greater  part  of  the  year  in  huge  shoals  in  the  sea, 
rising  and  falling,  gambolling  and  diving  in  the  water, 
feeding  on  the  fish,  and  probably  migrating  from 
colder  to  warmer  seas  in  the  winter  from  either  pole. 
But  the  interesting  time  of  their  life  is  in  the  spring, 
when  the  northern  eared  seals  have  often  been  watched 
as  they  come  to  the  shores  of  the  Aleutian  Isles  to 
bring  up  their  families. 

For  then  begins  the  fight  which  seals  shall  get 
the  most  wives.  Early  in  May  the  fathers  begin  to 
arrive — strong  old  seals,  which  have  gone  through  the 
battle  many  years  before  and  know  the  rules.  They 
are  huge  fellows  six  or  seven  feet  long,  with  enormous 
eye-teeth  and  cutting  teeth  next  to  them,  which  to- 
gether grip  like  a  vice.  They  come  up  at  first  singly 
and  then  in  greater  numbers,  swimming  powerfully 
and  laying  hold  of  the  rocks  with  their  flippers  so 
as  to  haul  themselves  up  on  land,  taking  the  best 
positions  they  can  find  on  the  edge  of  the  water  to 
watch  for  the  arrival  of  the  mothers.  Yet  still  more 
and  more  fathers  arrive  as  time  goes  on,  and  these 
are  obliged  to  go  farther  inland,  for  all  the  shore 


SEA  LIONS  FIGHTING  FOR  WIVES.          311 

stations  are  soon  occupied,  and  each  sea  lion  defends 
his  own  plot  of  ground  with  tooth  and  flipper. 

Thus,  in  about  a  month's  time,  from  the  shore 
right  inland,  the  whole  island  is  covered  with  male 
seals.  And  now  the  mothers  arrive,  coming  to  the 
islands  that  their  little  ones  may  be  born.  They  are 
very  much  smaller,  not  much  more  than  four  feet 
long,  lighter  in  colour  than  the  fathers,  gentle*  and 
inoffensive  ;  and  as  they  swim  up  to  the  island  each 

Fig.  82. 


Sea  Lions  gathered  on  one  of  the  Pribylov  Islands,  watching  for  wives. 

father  seal  tries,  by  coaxing,  pulling,  and  tugging,  to 
persuade  a  mate  to  come  on  to  his  rock.  If  he  suc- 
ceeds he  has  then  to  keep  her,  for  the  sea  lions  be- 
hind, which  cannot  reach  the  sea,  are  on  the  watch 
to  steal  her. 


312  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

Now  he  might  make  quite  sure  of  his  prize  if  he 
would  be  content  with  one,  but  he  wants  several  ; 
and  the  next  young  mother  swimming  up  calls  off 
his  attention,  and  while  he  is  courting  her  his  neigh- 
bour behind  tries  to  carry  his  first  wife  away,  lifting 
her  by  the  back  of  the  neck  as  a  cat  does  a  kitten. 
Then  often  a  terrible  battle  begins,  and  the  poor 
mothers  are  pulled  hither  and  thither  till  one  male 
seal  secures  her,  and  then  the  whole  thing  begins 
again.  This  constant  fighting  and  lovemaking  go 
on  for  several  days  till  all  the  sea  lions  have  wives — 
those  on  the  shore  many,  those  behind  perhaps  very 
few.  Then  all  settle  down  quietly,  the  little  sea 
lions  are  born,  bleating  like  young  lambs,  and  family 
life  begins.  But  the  peace  does  not  last  long,  for 
no  sooner  are  mothers  able  to  leave  their  little  ones 
than  the  old  contest  begins  again,  and  happy  the 
father  who  can  keep  his  wives  together  through  a 
whole  season ! 

And  now  comes  the  most  remarkable  point.  As 
a  rule,  seals  are  immense  eaters,  and  they  become 
very  fat.  But  from  the  time  that  the  fathers  land 
upon  the  rocks  till  they  go  back  to  the  water  after 
about  two  months,  they  have  never  been  known  to 
leave  their  position  to  take  food,  so  busy  are  they 
defending  their  wives.  And  when  the  two  months 
are  over,  during  which  the  little  ones  have  been 
trying  their  strength  in  the  waves  and  learning 
to  swim,  the  fathers,  which  have  grown  thin  and 
meagre,  having  used  up  all  their  fat,  swim  away  and 
do  not  come  back.  The  mothers,  however,  with  the 
children,  and  those  young  bachelors,  which  have  not 
yet  taken  wives,  remain  on  the  islands  sporting  and 


SEALS  AND  THEIR  STRUCTURE.  3*3 

enjoying  themselves  till  autumn,  when  they,  too, 
start  off  for  the  open  sea  till  spring  comes  round 
again. 

Such  is  the  history  of  the  eared  seals.  And  now 
that  we  have  studied  their  form,  and  seen  that  their 
skeleton  is  like  that  of  other  animals,  though  their 
arms  and  legs  are  disguised  as  flippers,  we  shall 
understand  our  own  home  seals  better ;  for  the  chief 
difference  between  them  and  the  higher  seals  is 
merely  that  their  front  legs  are  much  shorter,  and 
that  their  hind  legs  are  turned  back  so  as  to  lie  in 
a  line  with  the  body  (see  Fig.  81),  while  they  are 
closely  bound  to  the  tail  down  right  as  far  as  the 
heel,  so  that  they  cannot  throw  their  hind  flippers 
forward  nor  use  them  in  walking.  Thus  they  have 
become  still  more  completely  aquatic  animals,  using 
their  hind  legs  entirely  in  swimming,  when  they 
serve  as  great  oars,  working  something  like  the 
screw  of  a  steamer.  The  consequence  is  that  they 
are  terribly  awkward  on  land,  though  they  get  along 
very  fast  by  jerking  their  body  forward,  or  some- 
times by  dragging  themselves  by  their  front  flippers. 

This,  however,  matters  very  little  to  them,  .for 
their  home  is  the  sea.  True,  they  may  often  be 
seen  lying  asleep  on  sandbanks  or  on  rocks  jutting 
out  of  the  water,  but  they  rarely  venture  far  up  the 
land,  always  remaining  where  they  can  slip  back 
into  their  true  home  at  the  least  alarm.  So 
they  live  in  the  seas  almost  all  over  the  world. 
They  may  be  known  from  the  higher  seals  chiefly 
by  their  want  of  outer  ears,  their  backward-turned 
legs,  and  their  feet  with  both  the  great  and  little 
toes  larger  than  the  inner  ones  ;  but  their  life  is 


314  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFERS  RACE. 

much  the  same.  Some  live  near  our  own  shores, 
especially  in  Scotland ;  some  are  peculiar  to 
Australia  and  New  Zealand  ;  others  crowd  the  icy 
seas  of  Greenland,  sleeping  in  large  herds  on  the 
ice-fields,  where  the  polar  bear  makes  them  his  prey  ; 
while  others  again  live  on  the  pack  ice  round  the 
South  Pole,  the  huge  Elephant  seal,  with  its  long 
tapir-like  nose,  basking  on  the  shores  of  Kerguelen's 
Land  and  the  islands  of  the  southern  seas — a  monster 
twelve  feet  or  more  long,  with  his  smaller  wives 
beside  him. 

Thus  the  seals  are  bold  ocean  lovers,  feeding 
entirely  on  animal  food,  and  finding  plenty  of  it  in 
the  wide  sea  as  they  roam.  But  there  is  another 
family  of  warm-blooded  animals,  pure  vegetable- 
feeders,  which  also  must  have  found  their  way  in 
distant  ages  into  the  water  ;  for  they  too  are  milk- 
givers,  and  though  they  have  lost  their  hind  legs, 
have  still  the  front  legs  with  all  their  proper  bones, 
with  the  hands  turned  into  flippers. 

These  animals  are  the  curious  sea-cows  or  Mana- 
tees, which  wander  under  water  along  the  east  coast 
of  Africa  and  west  coast  of  South  America,  feeding 
in  the  bays  and  often  up  the  rivers,  on  the  sea- 
weeds and  water-plants  of  all  kinds  ;  while  another 
kind  with  tusks,  called  the  Dugong,  feeds  all  along 
the  shores  of  the  Indian  Ocean  and  Australia. 

It  is  strange  that  while  every  child  knows  some- 
thing about  seals,  very  few  people  have  heard  of 
these  gentle  grazing  manatees  and  dugongs,  the  only 
large  vegetable-feeders  of  the  sea.  Yet  they  are 
curious,  interesting  animals,  and  seem  to  be  the 


MANATEES  OR  SEA  COWS.  315 

forms  which  have  given  rise  to  the  popular  stories 
of  mermaids,*  for  they  suckle  their  young  ones  at  the 
breast,  clasping  them  with  their  flippers,  and  when 
they  raise  their  heads  in  the  water  have  something  the 
appearance  of  an  uncouth  mother  nursing  her  child. 

Fig.  83. 


The  Manatee  or  Sea  Cow  grazing. 


But  very  uncouth  indeed  !  for  they  are  long 
barrel-shaped  creatures,  with  a  thick  skin  like  the 
elephant's,  with  short  stiff  hairs  upon  it.  Their 
head  is  small,  with  no  outer  ears,  and  very  insigni- 
ficant eyes  surrounded  with  wrinkles  ;  their  lips  are 
thick,  heavy,  and  covered  with  short  bristles,  and 
above  them  two  narrow  nostrils  open  and  close 
according  as  they  are  above  or  under  water.  Their 
front  flippers,  which  are  all  they  have,  are  long  and 
broad,  with  faintly-marked  flat  nails  upon  them,  and 
behind  these  their  body  tapers  away  gradually  into 

*  Hence  their  name  Sirenia,  a  curious  name  for  voiceless  animals. 


316  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

a  thin,  wide,  shovel-shaped  tail,  not  set  edgewise  as  in 
a  fish,  but  across  the  body,  so  as  to  lie  like  a  broad 
leaf  in  the  water. 

Who  would  think  that  a  creature  like  this  had 
anything  in  common  with  land  animals  ?  Yet  so  it 
is,  for  not  only  do  we  know  that  his  ancestors  had 
traces  of  hind  legs,  but  his  front  limbs  are  quite  as 
true  arms  and  hands  as  those  of  any  of  the  seals. 
Moreover,  he  has  large  broad  grinding  back  teeth 
like  the  elephant,  and  in  front  he  has  small  cutting 
teeth  as  a  baby,  though  these  are  covered  up  by  the 
gum  as  he  grows  older.  In  the  Australian  dugong, 
however,  these  teeth  continue  to  grow  and  form 
good-sized  tusks  in  the  fathers. 

What,  then,  is  this  curious  aru'mal  ?  Simply  a 
vegetable-feeder  which  has  become  fitted  for  a  watery 
life — a  gentle,  peaceable  animal,  which  keeps  near 
the  shore  and  grasps  the  seaweed  with  the  sides  of 
its  upper  lip,  and  then  nips  it  off  by  a  set  of  horny 
plates,  which  grow  down  from  the  roof  of  its 
mouth,  and  answer  to  the  rough  wrinkles  on  a  cow's 
palate.  They  may  often  be  seen  together,  father, 
mother,  and  child,  wandering  up  the  river  Congo  in 
Africa,  or  the  Amazons  in  South  America,  feeding 
entirely  under  water,  and  only  raising  their  heads 
from  time  to  time  with  a  snort  to  take  in  fresh  air. 
In  olden  times  they  probably  thronged  all  the 
coasts  on  the  sea -margin,  for  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  ago  there  was  another  group  of  them, 
the  Rhytinas,  right  up  in  the  cold  seas  of  Behring's 
Straits,  where  the  vast  submarine  forests  of  sea- 
weed afforded  them  plenty  of  food.  But  the 
sailors  found  them  such  good  eating,  and  the  fatty 


THE  WHALEBONE  WHALE.  317 

blubber  on  their  bodies  was  so  valuable,  that  they 
were  all  killed  twenty-five  years  after  Behring  first 
discovered  them,  and  unless  some  care  is  taken, 
the  more  southern  sea-cows  may  some  day  be  exter- 
minated in  the  same  way. 

And  now  that  we  have  firmly  grasped  the  fact 
that  the  seals  and  manatees,  however  altered  in  shape, 
belong  to  the  four-footed  and  milk-giving  group,  per- 
haps we  shall  be  prepared  to  understand  how  it  is  that 
the  whales*  are  not  fish,  though  this  popular  delusion 
is  one  of  the  most  difficult  to  overcome.  "Do  you 
really  mean  then,"  exclaim  nearly  all  people  who  are 
not  naturalists,  "  that  a  whale  is  not  a  huge  fish  ? " 
Certainly  I  do!  A  whale  is  no  more  a  fish  than 
crocodiles,  penguins,  or  seals,  are  fish  although  they 
too  live  chiefly  in  the  water. 

A  whale  is  a  warm-blooded,  air-breathing,  milk- 
giving  animal.  Its  fins  are  hands  with  finger-bones, 
having  a  large  number  of  joints  (see  Fig.  84) ;  its  tail 
is  a  piece  of  cartilage  or  gristle,  and  not  a  fish's  fin 
with  bones  and  rays ;  it  has  teeth  in  its  gums  even  if 
it  never  cuts  them  ;  and  it  gives  suck  to  its  little  one 
just  as  much  as  a  cow  does  to  her  calf  (see  Fig.  85). 
Nay !  the  whalebone  whales  have  even  the  traces  of 
hind  legs  entirely  buried  under  the  skin  (see  Fig.  84), 
and  in  the  Greenland  whale  the  hip-joint  and  knee- 
joint  can  be  distinguished  with  some  of  their  muscles, 
though  the  bones  are  quite  hidden  and  useless. 

We  see  then  that  the  whale  undoubtedly  belongs 
to  the  same  type  as  the  four-footed  land  animals,  al- 
though it  branched  off  into  the  water  so  long  ago  that  it 

*  Cetacea—  cete,  a  whale. 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


may  have  come 
from  some  very 
early  -milk- 
giver.  But  why 
then  has  it  be- 
come so  like  a 
fish  ?  For  the 
same  reason 
that  the  pen- 
guin's wings 
have  become  so 
fin  -  like,  and 
the  seal's  arms 
and  legs  have 
become  flip- 
pers, namely, 
that  during 
the  long  time 
in  which  the 
whales  have 
taken  to  a 
watery  life, 
those  which 
could  swim  best 
and  float  best 
in  the  water 
have  been  the 
most  successful 
in  the  struggle 
for  existence  ; 
and  as  a  fish's 
shape  is  by  far 
the  best  for  this 


WHALE  SUCKLING  HER  YOUNG.  319 

purpose  the  warm-blooded  milk-giver  has  gradually 
imitated  it,  though  belonging  to  quite  a  different 
order  of  animals. 

We  saw  this  imitation  already  beginning  in  the 
seals,  with  their  bodies  sloping  off  towards  the  tail 
and  their  legs  fastened  back  in  a  line  with  the  body  ; 
but  they  have  not  gone  so  far  in  this  direction  as 
the  whales  have,  since  they  still  have  hind  legs  and 

Fig.  85. 


The  Humpback  Whale*  suckling  her  young  (after  Scammon). 


furry  bodies.  The  sea  cows,  on  their  line,  have 
gone  a  little  farther,  for  they  have  lost  their  hind 
legs,  and  their  skin  is  smooth,  with  very  few  hairs 
upon  it.  But  it  remained  for  the  whales  to  take  up 
the  best  fish-form,  the  old  spindle-shape,  thinning 
before  and  behind,  with  the  strong  fleshy  tail  ending 
in  two  tail  lobes,  which  act  like  a  screw  in  driving 


the  body  along. 


15 


Megaptera. 


320  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

Any  good  drawing  of  a  whale  shows  at  once  how 
admirably  these  animals  are  fitted  for  gliding  through 
the  water  (see  Fig.  85).  True,  many  of  them  have 
enormous  heads,  but  these  always  have  long  face- 
bones  ending  in  a  rounded  point,  and  even  the  huge 
head  of  the  sperm  whale  (see  Fig.  87),  eighteen  feet 
long,  six  feet  high,  and  six  feet  wide,  is  rounded  off 
above,  and  gradually  thins  away  below,  like  the  cut- 
water of  a  ship.  The  eyes  are  very  tiny  and  so  little 
exposed,  that  it  is  difficult  to  find  them;  there  are 
no  outer  ears,  though  the  bones  within  are  large  and 
probably  very  useful  for  hearing  in  water  ;  the  bones 
of  the  neck  are  seven,  as  is  the  rule  among  milk- 
givers,  but  they  are  so  flattened  and  firmly  soldered 
together,  and  so  covered  with  blubber,  that  there  is 
not  even  a  hollow  between  the  head  and  the  body  ; 
while  to  crown  all,  the  skin  is  perfectly  smooth  so  as 
to  offer  no  resistance  to  the  water.  Here,  however, 
would  be  a  disadvantage  in  the  loss  of  the  furry 
covering,  since  most  of  the  whales  travel  into  cold 
seas,  were  it  not  compensated  by  the  great  mass  of 
oily  fat  or  blubber  which  fills  the  cells  in  the  under 
part  of  the  skin,  and  keeps  the  whole  body  warm  ; 
and  thus  the  whale,  by  a  covering  of  fat  often  as 
much  as  a  foot  and  a  half  thick,  solves  the  problem 
of  a  warm-blooded  animal,  with  a  smooth  gliding 
body,  living  in  icy  water  without  having  its  blood 
chilled. 

In  every  essential  for  swimming,  then,  whales  are 
as  well  provided  as  any  fish,  while  their  immensely 
strong  backbone,  and  the  long  cords  or  tendons  run- 
ning from  the  mass  of  muscle  on  the  body  to  the  tail, 
give  them  such  tremendous  power  that  a  large  whale 


BREATHING  OF  WHALES.  321 

makes  nothing  of  tossing  a  whole  boat's  crew  into 
the  air  and  breaking  the  boat  in  two.  But,  though 
they  are  so  far  true  water-animals,  yet  they  cannot 
live  entirely  below  as  fish  can,  for  they  have  no 
apparatus  for  water-breathing.  The  outside  of  their 
body  takes  on  the  appearance  of  a  fish,  but  inside 
they  have  the  true  lungs,  the  four-chambered  heart, 
and  all  the  complicated  machinery  of  a  warm-blooded 
animal.  Therefore,  though  a  whale  may  dive  deep 
and  remain  below  to  seek  its  food,  yet  before  an  hour 
has  passed  even  the  largest  of  them  must  come  floating 
up  to  the  top  again,  to  blow  out  the  bad  air  through 
the  nostrils  at  the  top  of  the  head,  and  fill  the  capa- 
cious lungs  with  a  fresh  supply.  It  is  then  that, 
partly  because  of  the  water  which  has  run  into  the 
blowhole,  and  partly  because  the  rush  of  breath 
throws  up  spray  from  the  sea,  we  see  those  magnifi- 
cent spouts  of  water  which  tell  that  a  whale  is  below. 
The  older  naturalists  thought  that  these  spouts  were 
caused  by  the  water  which  the  whale  had  taken  into 
its  mouth  ;  but  this  is  not  so,  and  Scoresby,  the  great 
Arctic  traveller,  states  distinctly  that  if  the  blowhole 
of  the  whale  is  out  of  the  water  only  moist  vapour 
rises  with  the  breath,  while  when  it  makes  a  large 
spout  this  comes  from  its  blowing  under  water  and 
so  throwing  up  a  jet. 

If,  however,  the  whale  is  a  simple  air-breather 
and  yet  swims  under  water  with  its  mouth  open, 
how  comes  it  that  this  water  does  not  run  down  the 
windpipe  and  choke  the  lungs  ?  This  is  prevented 
by  a  most  ingenious  contrivance.  At  the  top  of  our 
own  windpipe  there  is  a  small  elastic  lid  which  shuts 
when  we  swallow,  and  prevents  water  and  food  from 


322  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

running  down  to  the  lungs.  Now,  in  the  whale  the 
gristle  answering  to  this  lid  runs  up  as  a  long  tube 
past  the  roof  of  the  mouth  into  the  lower  portion  of 
the  nose,  and  is  kept  there  tightly,  being  surrounded 
by  the  muscles  of  the  soft  palate.  The  upper  por- 
tion of  the  nose  cavity  then  opens  on  the  forehead  by 
means  of  one  or  two  "  blowholes,"  as  the  outside  nose 
holes  are  called ;  so  that  when  the  blowholes  are  closed 
the  whale  can  swim  with  its  mouth  open  and  feed 
under  water,  and  yet  not  a  drop  will  enter  its  lungs. 

A  large  sperm  whale  will  often  remain  twelve 
minutes  or  more  at  the  top  of  the  water,  taking  in* 
air  at  the  single  blowhole  in  the  front  of  its  head, 
and  purifying  its  blood,  and  then  with  a  roll  and  a 
tumble  it  will  plunge  down  again,  and  remain  for  an 
hour  below,  trusting  to  a  large  network  of  blood- 
vessels lying  between  the  lungs  and  the  ribs  to  supply 
purified  blood  to  its  body  and  retain  the  impure 
blood  till  it  comes  up  again  to  breathe. 

But  the  smaller  whales  and  porpoises,  which  play 
about  our  coasts,  have  to  come  up  much  more  often, 
and  even  when  they  are  not  tumbling  and  jumping, 
as  they  love  to  do,  you  may  see  them  rising  at 
regular  intervals  as  they  swim  along,  their  black 
backs  appearing  like  little  hillocks  in  the  water,  as 
they  "  blow  "  strongly  from  their  single  nose-slit,  take 
a  quick  breath  in,  and  sink -again  to  rise  a  few  paces 
farther  on  and  repeat  the  process. 

Thus  provided  both  with  swimming  and  breathing 
apparatus,  these  purely  air-breathing  animals  wander 
over  the  wide  ocean  and  live  the  lives  of  fish,  making 
such  good  use  of  food  which  cannot  be  reached  by 
land  animals,  or  those  which  must  keep  near  the 


PORPOISES  AND  DOLPHINS.  323 

shore,  that  we  shall  not  be  surprised  to  find  that  the 
whale  family  is  a  very  large  one. 

But  it  is  curious  that  the  fierce  animals  of  prey 
among  them  should  be,  not  the  huge  whales  but  the 
smaller  Dolphins,  Porpoises,  and  Grampuses  ;  and 
this  shows  how  different  water-feeding  is  to  land- 
feeding,  since,  because  the  water  is  full  of  myriads  of 
small  and  soft  creatures,  the  sperm  whale  feeding  on 
jelly-fish,  and  the  large  whalebone  whale  feeding  on 
soft  cuttle-fish  and  the  minutest  beings  in  the  sea, 
are  those  which  attain  the  largest  size. 

Most  people  have  at  one  time  or  another  seen  a 
shoal  of  porpoises  either  out  at  sea  or  travelling  up 
the  mouth  of  some  large  river,  where 

"  Upon  the  swelling  waves  the  dolphins  show 
Their  bending  backs,  then  swiftly  darting  go, 
And  in  a  thousand  wreaths  their  bodies  throw;" 

and  though  they  are  small  creatures,  only  about  five 
feet  long,  they  are  very  good  examples  of  the  whale 
shape,  with  their  tapering  bodies,  broad  tails,  and  the 
back  fin,  which  is  found  in  some  whales  and  not  in 
others.  Sometimes  they  swim  quietly,  only  rising 
to  breathe,  and  then  they  work  the  tail  gently  from 
side  to  side  ;  at  others  they  gambol  and  frolic,  and 
jump  right  out  of  the  water,  beating  the  tail  up  and 
clown,  and  bending  like  a  salmon  when  he  leaps  ; 
and  whether  they  come  quietly  or  wildly,  you  may 
generally  know  they  are  near  by  the  frightened 
mackerel  and  herrings,  which  spring  out  of  the  water 
to  avoid  them.  For  the  porpoises  have  a  row  of 
sharp  teeth  in  each  jaw,  more  than  a  hundred  in  all, 
and  they  bite,  kill,  and  swallow  in  one  gulp/without 


324 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


waiting  to  divide  their  food,  so  that  they  make  sad 
havoc  among  the  fish. 

They  are  here  to-day  and  gone  to-morrow.  A 
few  kinds  wander  up  into  fresh  water,  such  as  the 
Ganges  and  the  Amazons,  but  by  far  the  greater 
number  range  all  over  our  northern  seas,  together 

Fig.  86. 


"he  Porpoise.* 


with  their  near  relations  the  dolphins,  and  the  bottle- 
nosed  whales,  and  the  strange  narwhal,  with  its  two 
solitary  eye  teeth,  one  only  of  which  grows  out  as  a 
long  tusk.  All  these  roam  freely  through  the  vast 
ocean  home,  coming  into  the  still  bays  to  bring  up 
their  young  ones,  which  they  nurse  and  suckle  ten- 
derly, afterwards  moving  off  again  in  shoals  to  the 
open  sea.  There  they  will  follow  the  ships,  and  sport 
and  play,  and  probably  we  shall  never  know  exactly 

*  Phococna  communis. 


THE  KILLER  WHALE.  325 

where  their  wanderings  extend,  though  it  seems  that 
they  prefer  the  northern  hemisphere. 

Among  all  the  dolphin  family  the  most  vora- 
cious and  bloodthirsty  is  the  Grampus  or  Orca,* 
which  is  commonly  called  the  "  Killer  Whale," 
because  it  alone  feeds  on  warm-blooded  animals, 
seizing  the  seals  with  its  strong,  sharp,  conical  teeth, 
devouring  even  its  own  relations  the  porpoises,  and 
attacking  and  tearing  to  pieces  the  larger  whales. 
No  lion  or  tiger  could  be  more  ruthless  in  its  attacks 
than  this  large-toothed  whale,  which  is  sometimes  as 
much  as  twenty-five  feet  long  and  has  broad  flippers. 
In  vain  even  the  mother  walruses  try  to  save  their 
young  ones  by  carrying  them  on  their  backs  ;  the 
cunning  Orca  swims  below  her,  and  coming  up  with 
a  jerk  shakes  the  young  one  from  its  place  of  safety 
and  swallows  it  in  a  moment.  Nor  do  they  merely 
fight  single-handed,  for  many  voyagers  have  seen 
them  attack  large  whales  in  a  pack  like  wolves,  and 
in  1858  Mr.  Scammon  saw  three  killer  whales  fall 
upon  a  huge  Californian  Gray  Whale  and  her  young 
one,  though  even  the  baby  whale  was  three  times 
their  size.  They  bit,  they  tore,  and  wounded  them 
both  till  they  sank,  and  the  conquerors  appeared  with 
huge  pieces  of  flesh  in  their  mouths,  as  they  devoured 
their  prey.  How  much  they  can  eat  is  shown  by 
one  orca  having  been  killed  which  had  the  remains  of 
thirteen  porpoises  and  fourteen  seals  in  its  stomach  ! 

How  strange  now  to  turn  from  this  ravenous 
hunter  to  the  huge  Sperm  Whale,  eighty  feet  long, 
with  a  head  one-third  the  size  of  its  whole  body  and 
more  than  a  ton  of  spermacetic  oil  in  its  forehead, 

*  Orca  gladiator. 


326  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

and  to  think  that  this  monster  swims  quietly  along 
in  the  sea,  drops  its  long  thin  lower  jaw,  and  with 
wide-open  mouth  simply  gulps  in  jelly-fish,  small 
fish,  and  other  fry,  thus  without  any  exertion  or 
fuss  slaying  its  millions  of  small  and  soft  creatures 
quietly,  as  the  orca  does  the  higher  creatures  with  so 
much  battle  and  strife  ! 

For  the  sperm  whale  (Fig.  87)  must  need  a  great 
deal  of  food  to  feed  its  huge  body.  Though  it  has 
forty-two  teeth  in  the  lower  jaw  it  never  cuts  those 
in  the  upper  one,  and  seems  to  depend  more  on 
sweeping  its  prey  into  its  mouth  than  on  attacking 
it.  And  this  perhaps  partly  explains  the  use  of  that 
curious  case  of  spermaceti  which  lies  in  its  huge  fore- 
head over  the  tough  fat  of  its  upper  jaw.  For  this 
oil  gives  out  a  powerful  scent,  which,  when  the  whale 
is  feeding  below  in  the  deep  water,  most  probably 
attracts  fish  and  other  small  animals,  as  they  are  also 
certainly  attracted  nearer  the  surface  by  the  shining 
white  lining  of  its  mouth.  This  light  mass  is  also, 
however,  useful  in  giving  the  head  a  tendency  to  rise, 
so  that  when  the  whale  wishes  to  swim  quickly  it  has 
only  to  rise  to  the  top,  so  that  the  bulk  of  its  head  will 
stand  out  of  the  water,  the  lower  and  narrow  part 
cutting  the  waves.  In  this  position  he  can  go  at  the 
rate  of  twelve  to  twenty  miles  an  hour. 

But  if  the  sperm  whale  is  curious,  as  it  carries  its 
oil-laden  head  through  all  seas  from  pole  to  pole, 
chiefly  in  warmer  latitudes,  how  much  more  so  are 
the  whalebone  whales,  which  are  monarchs  of  the 
colder  and  arctic  seas,  where  they  feed  on  the  swarms 
of  mollusca,  crustaceans,  and  jelly  animals  which  live 
there.  For  these  large  whales,  though  they  have 


WHALEBONE  WHALES. 


327 


teeth  in  their  gums,  never  cut  them,  but  in  their 
place  they  have  large  sheets  of  whalebone  hanging 
down  from  the  upper  jaw  (see  Fig.  84),  smooth  on  the 
outside,  fringed  with  short  hairs  on  the  inside,  and 
crowded  together  so  thickly,  only  about  a  quarter  of 
an  inch  apart,  that  as  many  as  three  hundred  sheets 

Fig.  87. 


The  Sperm  Whale. 

hang  down  on  each  side  of  the  mouth  of  the  great 
Greenland  whale. 

It  is  easy  to  see  the  use  of  these  whalebones 
when  «we  remember  that  this  huge  whale  feeds 
entirely  by  rilling  its  enormous  mouth  with  water, 
and  then  closing  it  and  raising  its  thick  tongue  at 
the  back  so  as  to  drive  the  water  out  at  the  sides, 


328  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

straining  it  through  the  fine  fringes,  which  fill  up 
all  the  spaces  between  the  plates  and  keep  back 
every  little  shell-fish  and  soft  animal.  But  it  is 
less  easy  to  guess  where  these  whalebone  plates  come 
from,  till  we  look  back  at  the  manatee,  and  remember 
those  horny  ridges  which  it  uses  for  biting,  and  which 
are  exaggerations  of  the  rough  fleshy  ridges  at  the 
top  of  a  cow's  mouth. 

Then  we  have  a  clue,  for  each  blade  of  whalebone 
grows  from  a  horny  white  gum,  being  fed  by  a  fleshy 
substance  below  much  in  the  same  way  as  our  nails 
are,  so  that  these  blades  are,  as  it  were,  a  series  of 
hardened  ridges,  which  grow  out  from  the  soft  palate, 
till  they  become  frayed  at  the  edges,  and  form  that 
dense  fringe  which  is  the  whale's  strainer,  upon  which 
he  depends  entirely  for  his  food. 

Explain  it  as  we  will,  however,  it  is  a  most  won- 
derful apparatus.  Imagine  a  huge  upper  jaw  form- 
ing an  arch  more  than  nine  feet  high,  so  that  if  the 
whalebone  were  cleared  away  a  man  could  walk 
about  inside,  upon  the  thick  tongue  which  lies  in 
the  lower  jaw  fastened  down  almost  to  the  tip  so 
that  it  cannot  be  put  out  of  the  mouth.  And  then 
remember  that  this  enormous  mouth  has  to  be  filled 
with  food  sufficient  to  nourish  a  body  fifty  or  more 
feet  long.  Who  would  ever  guess  that  this  food  is 
made  up  of  creatures  so  small  that  countless  millions 
must  go  to  a  mouthful  ?  Yet  the  whole  difficulty  is 
solved  simply  by  these  triangular  fringed  plates  or 
mouth-ridges  (see  section  Fig.  84,  p.  318),  covered 
with  horny  matter  and  frayed  into  minute  threads 
like  the  horny  barbs  of  a  feather. 

Nor  are  we  yet  at  the  end  of  the  wonderful  adapta- 


RANGE  OF  WHALES.  329 

tion,  for  while  the  jaw  is  only  from  nine  to  twelve 
feet  high,  the  long  outside  edge  of  the  plates  is  often 
eighteen  feet  long,  and  for  this  reason,  that  if  they 
were  only  as  long  as  the  jaw  is  deep,  then  when  the 
whale  went  fishing  with  his  mouth  open  the  animals 
would  escape  below  the  fringe,  while  as  they  now 
are,  he  may  gape  as  wide  as  he  will,  the  long  curtain 
will  still  guard  the  passage  of  the  mouth  and  entangle 
the  prey  in  its  meshes.  But  what,  then,  is  to  become 
of  this  great  length  of  whalebone  when  the  animal 
shuts  his  mouth  ?  Here  comes  in  the  use  of  the 
beautiful  elasticity  of  the  plates,  for  the  great  Arctic 
whaler,  Captain  Gray,  has  shown  that  as  the  mouth 
shuts  the  lower  ends  of  the  longer  plates  bend  back 
towards  the  throat  and  fall  into  the  hollow  formed 
by  the  short  blades  behind  them,  so  that  the  whole 
lies  compactly  fitted  in,  ready  to  spring  open  again, 
and  fill  the  gap  whenever  the  jaws  are  distended. 

With  this  magnificent  fishing-net  the  whalebone 
whales  go  a -fishing  in  all  the  salt  waters  of  the 
world.  They  are  not  all  of  enormous  size, — many 
of  them  are  not  more  than  twenty  feet  long, — nor 
have  they  all  such  a  perfect  mouthful  of  whalebone 
as  the  great  Polar  Whale  ;  but  when  the  whalebone 
is  shorter,  as  in  the  Rorqual,  and  other  whales  with 
back  fins,  the  stiff  walls  of  the  lower  lip  close  in  the 
sides  of  the  mouth  and  prevent  the  escape  of  the 
prey ;  and  many  of  these  whales  have  a  curious 
arrangement  of  skin  folds  under  the  lower  jaw,  which 
stretch  out  and  enable  them  to  take  in  enormous 
mouthfuls  of  water,  so  as  to  secure  more  food. 

New  Zealand,  California,  Japan,  the  Cape,  the 
Bay  of  Biscay,  and  in  fact  almost  every  shore  or 


330  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFERS  RACE. 

sea  from  pole  to  pole,  has  some  whale  called  by  its 
name  ;  for  these  gaping  fishers  are  everywhere,  and 
it  is  not  always  easy  to  say  whether  the  same  whale 
is  not  called  by  different  names  in  various  parts  of 
the  world.  In  the  shallow  bays  and  lagoons  they 
may  be  found  with  their  newly -born  young  ones 
very  early  in  the  year  ;  while  far  out  at  sea  ships 
meet  with  them  travelling  in  shoals,  or  "schools," 
northwards,  as  the  summer  sets  in  and  the  Arctic  Sea 
is  swarming  with  life.  In  fact  the  Californian  gray 
whales  go  right  up  into  the  ice,  poking  their  noses 
up  through  the  holes  to  breathe,  and  then  they  travel 
far  away  south  again  into  the  tropics  to  bring  up 
their  young  ones. 

And  whether  large  or  small,  toothed  whales  or 
whalebone  whales,  active  as  the  dolphin  and  the 
huge  fin -whales  or  rorquals,  which  dash  through 
the  water  although  some  are  nearly  a  hundred  feet 
long,  or  lazy  and  harmless  as  the  Greenland  whale 
is  unless  attacked,  in  one  thing  all  the  whale  family 
betray  their  high  place  in  the  animal  kingdom.  No- 
where, either  on  land  or  in  the  water,  can  mothers 
be  found  more  tender,  more  devoted,  or  more  willing 
to  sacrifice  their  lives  for  their  children  than  whale- 
mothers.  Scoresby  tells  us  that  the  whalers,  as 
means  of  catching  the  grown-up  whales,  will  some- 
times strike  a  young  one  with  harpoon  and  line,  sure 
that  the  mother  will  come  to  its  rescue.  Then  she 
may  be  seen  coming  to  the  top  with  it  encouraging 
it  to  swim  away,  and  she  will  even  take  it  under  her 
fin,  and,  in  spite  of  the  harpoons  of  the  whalers,  will 
never  leave  it  till  life  is  extinct.  Nay,  she  has  been 
known  to  carry  it  off  triumphantly,  for  the  lash  of 


A  SPECIAL  MODIFICATION.  331 

her  tail  is  furiously  strong  when  she  is  maddened 
by  the  danger  of  her  child,  so  that  a  boat's  crew 
scarcely  dare  approach  her. 

And  now  there  remains  the  question  what  enemies 
besides  man  these  strong-swimming  milk-givers  can 
have  in  their  ocean  home  ?  We  have  seen  that  the 
orca  or  killer  whale  will  turn  cannibal  and  devour 
those  of  its  own  kind,  and  the  swordfish  is  said  to 
attack  whales  with  its  formidable  spear ;  but  these 
are  not  their  greatest  enemies.  With  many  of  the 
whales  it  is  tiny  creatures  like  those  on  which  they 
feed  which  hasten  their  death,  for  small  parasitic 
crustaceans  cover  their  head  and  fins,  and  feed  upon 
their  fat,  so  that  whales  which  have  been  infested 
with  these  animals  are  often  found  to  be  "dry,"  or 
to  have  lost  nearly  all  their  oil.  And  thus  we  see 
the  tables  turned,  and  while  the  whale  feeds  upon 
minute  creatures,  it  is  in  its  turn  destroyed  by  them. 

Nevertheless,  as  a  rule,  they  probably  live  long 
lives,  till  their  teeth  are  worn,  or  their  whalebone 
frayed  and  broken,  and  their  blubber  wasted  away  ; 
and  then,  it  may  be  after  eighty  or  one  hundred 
years  of  life,  they  die  a  natural  death.  Therefore 
they  probably  share  with  the  elephant  the  longest 
term  of  life  of  any  of  the  warm-blooded  animals  ; 
and  though  their  existence  cannot  certainly  be  said 
to  be  an  exciting  one,  yet,  when  undisturbed  by  man, 
it  is  at  least  peaceful,  sociable,  and  full  of  family  love. 

It  may  perhaps  seem  strange  that  we  should 
have  taken  these  ocean-dwellers  last  in  our  glimpses 
of  animal  life  ;  but  in  the  first  place,  how  was  it 
possible  to  show  how  they  are  truly  related  to  the 
land  mammalia  until  we  understood  the  structure  of 


332  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

these  last  ?  And  in  the  second  place,  we  have  as  our 
object  to  see  how  the  backboned  family  have  won 
for  themselves  places  in  the  world,  and  surely  there 
are  none  which  have  done  this  more  successfully  or 
in  a  more  strange  and  unexpected  way  than  the 
whales,  which,  while  retaining  all  the  qualities  of 
warm-blooded  animals,  have  won  themselves  a  home 
in  the  ocean  by  imitating  the  form  and  habits  of  fish, 
and  so  adapting  themselves  to  find  food  in  the  great 
oceans,  where  their  land  relations  were  powerless  to 
avail  themselves  of  it 


CHAPTER    XII. 

A  BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  OF  THE  RISE  AND  PROGRESS 
OF  BACKBONED  LIFE. 

WE  have  now  sketched  out,  though  very  roughly, 
the  history  of  the  various  branches  of  the  great  back- 
boned family,  and  we  have  found  that,  as  happens  in 
all  families,  they  have  each  had  their  successes  and 
their  downfalls,  their  times  of  triumph,  and  their  more 


334  THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

sober  days,  when  the  remaining  descendants  have 
been  content  to  linger  on  in  the  byways  of  life,  and 
take  just  so  much  of  this  world's  good  as  might  fall 
to  their  share. 

We  have  seen  also  that,  as  in  all  families  of  long 
standing,  many  branches  have  become  extinct  alto- 
gether; the  great  enamel-plated  fish,  the  large  armour- 
covered  newts,  the  flying,  swimming,  and  huge  erect- 
walking  reptiles,  the  toothed  and  long -tailed  birds, 
the  gigantic  marsupials,  the  enormous  ground-loving 
sloths,  and  many  others,  have  lived  out  their  day  and 
disappeared ;  their  place  being  filled  either  by  smaller 
descendants  of  other  branches  of  the  group,  or  by 
new  forms  in  the  great  armies  of  fish,  birds,  and 
milk-givers  which  now  have  chiefly  possession  of  the 
earth. 

Still,  on  the  whole,  the  history  has  been  one  of  a 
gradual  rise  from  lower  to  higher  forms  of  life  ;  and 
if  we  put  aside  for  a  moment  all  details,  and,  for- 
getting the  enormous  lapse  of  time  required,  allow 
the  shifting  scene  to  pass  like  a  panorama  before  us, 
we  shall  have  a  grand  view  indeed  of  the  progress 
of  the  great  backboned  family. 

First,  passing  by  that  long  series  of  geological 
formations  in  which  no  remains  of  life  have  been 
found,  or  only  those  of  boneless  or  invertebrate 
animals,  we  find  ourselves  in  a  sea  abounding  in 
stone-lilies  and  huge  crustaceans,*  having  among 
them  the  small  forms  of  the  earliest  fish  known  to 
us,  those  having  gristly  skeletons.  Then  as  the  scene 
passes  on,  and  forests  clothe  the  land,  we  behold  the 
descendants  of  these  small  fish  becoming  large  and 

*  Picture  heading,  Chap.  II. 


CREA TION  BY  DEVELOPMENT.  335 

important,  wearing  heavy  enamelled  plates  or  sharp 
defensive  spines  ;  some  of  them  with  enormous  jaws, 
two  or  three  feet  in  length,  wandering  in  the  swamps 
and  muddy  water,  and  using  their  air-bladder  as  a 
lung.  But  these  did  not  turn  their  air-breathing  dis- 
covery to  account ;  they  remained  in  the  water,  and 
their  descendants  are  fish  down  to  the  present  day. 

It  is  in  the  next  scene,  when  already  the  age  of 
the  huge  extinct  fishes  is  beginning  to  pass  away, 
and  tree  ferns  and  coal  forest  plants  are  flourish- 
ing luxuriantly,  that  we  find  the  first  land  animals,* 
which  have  been  growing  up  side  by  side  with  the 
fish,  and  gradually  learning  to  undergo  a  change, 
marvellous  indeed,  yet  similar  to  one  which  goes  on 
under  our  eyes  each  year  in  every  country  pond. 
For  now,  mingling  with  the  fish,  we  behold  an  alto- 
gether new  type  of  creatures  which,  beginning  life  as 
water-breathers,  learn  to  come  out  upon  the  land  and 
live  as  air-breathers  in  the  swamps  of  the  coal  forests. 

A  marvellous  change  this  is,  as  we  can  judge  by 
watching  our  common  tadpole,  and  seeing  how  during 
its  youth  its  whole  breathing  organs  are  remade  on 
a  totally  different  principle,  its  heart  is  remodelled 
from  an  organ  of  two  chambers  into  one  of  three,  the 
whole  course  of  its  blood  is  altered,  some  channels 
being  destroyed  and  others  multiplied  and  enlarged, 
a  sucking  mouth  is  converted  into  a  gaping  bony  jaw, 
and  legs  with  all  their  bones  and  joints  are  produced 
where  none  were  before,  while  the  fish's  tail,  its  office 
abandoned,  is  gradually  absorbed  and  lost. 

The  only  reason  why  this  completely  new  crea- 
tion, taking  place  in  one  and  the  same  animal,  does 

*  Picture  heading,  Chap.  IV. 


336  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

not  fill  us  with  wonder  is,  that  it  goes  on  in  the  water 
where  generally  we  do  not  see  it,  and  because  the 
most  wonderful  changes  are  worked  out  inside  the  tad- 
pole, and  are  only  understood  by  physiologists.  But 
in  truth  the  real  alteration  in  bodily  structure  is  much 
greater  than  if  a  seal  could  be  changed  into  a  monkey. 

Now  this  complete  development  which  the  tadpole 
goes  through  in  one  summer  is,  after  all,  but  a  rapid 
repetition,  as  it  were,  of  that  slow  and  gradual 
development  which  must  have  taken  place  in  past 
ages,  when  water-breathing  animals  first  became 
adapted  to  air-breathing.  Any  one,  therefore,  who 
will  take  the  spawn  of  a  frog  from  a  pond,  and 
watch  it  through  all  its  stages,  may  rehearse  for 
himself  that  marvellous  chapter  in  the  history  of  the 
growth  and  development  of  higher  life. 

And  he  will  gain  much  by  this  study,  for  all  nature 
teaches  us  that  this  is  the  mode  in  which  the  Great 
Power  works.  Not  "  in  the  whirlwind,"  or  by  sudden 
and  violent  new  creations,  but  by  the"still  small  voice" 
of  gentle  and  gradual  change,  ordering  so  the  laws  of 
being  that  each  part  shall  model  and  remodel  itself 
as  occasion  requires.  Could  we  but  see  the  whole, 
we  should  surely  bend  in  reverence  and  awe  before 
a  scheme  so  grand,  so  immutable,  so  irresistible  in  its 
action,  and  yet  so  still,  so  silent,  and  so  impercept- 
ible, because  everywhere  and  always  at  work.  Even 
now  to  those  who  study  nature,  broken  and  partial 
as  their  knowledge  must  be,  it  is  incomprehensible 
how  men  can  seek  and  long  for  marvels  of  spasmodic 
power,  when  there  lies  before  them  the  greatest  proof 
of  a  mighty  wisdom  in  an  all-embracing  and  never- 
wavering  scheme,  the  scope  of  which  is  indeed  be- 


CREA TION  BY  DE VELOPMENT.  33 7 

yond  our  intelligence,  but  the  partial  working  of  which 
is  daily  shown  before  our  very  eyes. 

But  to  return  to  our  shifting  scene  where  the 
dense  forests  of  the  Coal  Period  next  come  before 
us.  There,  while  numerous  fish,  small  and  great, 
fill  the  waters,  huge  Newts  have  begun  their  reign 
(Labyrinthodonts],  wandering  in  the  marshy  swamps 
or  swimming  in  the  pools,  while  smaller  forms  run 
about  among  the  trees,  or,  snake-like  in  form,  wriggle 
among  the  ferns  and  mosses  ;  and  one  and  all  of 
these  lead  the  double-breathing  or  amphibian  life. 

In  the  next  scene  the  coal  forests  are  passing 
away,  though  still  the  strange  forms  of  the  trees 
and  the  gigantic  ferns  tell  us  we  have  not  left  them 
quite  behind  ;  and  now  upon  the  land  are  true  air- 
breathers,*  no  longer  beginning  life  in  the  water,  but 
born  alive,  as  the  young  ones  of  the  black  salamander 
are  now  (see  p.  8 1 ).  The  Reptiles  have  begun  their 
reign,  and  they  show  that,  though  still  cold-blooded 
animals,  they  have  entered  upon  a  successful  line  of 
life,  for  they  increase  in  size  and  number  till  the 
world  is  filled  with  them. 

Meanwhile  other  remarkable  forms  now  appear 
leading  off  to  two  new  branches  of  backboned  life. 
On  the  one  hand,  little  insect-eating  warm-blooded 
marsupials  scamper  through  the  woods,  having  started 
we  scarcely  yet  know  when  or  where,  except  that  we 
learn  from  their  structure  that  they  probably  branched 
off  from  the  amphibians  in  quite  a  different  line  from 
the  reptiles,  and  certainly  gained  a  footing  upon 
the  earth  in  very  early  times.  On  the  other  hand, 
birds  come  upon  the  scene  having  teeth  in  their 

•  Picture  heading,  Chap.  VIII. 


338  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

mouths,*  long-jointed  tails,f  and  many  other  reptilian 
characters.  We  have  indeed  far  more  clue  to  the 
relationship  of  the  birds  than  we  have  of  the  mar- 
supials, for  while  we  have  these  reptile-like  birds, 
we  have  also  the  bird-like  reptiles  such  as  the  little 
Compsognathus,  which  hopped  on  two  feet,  had  a 
long  neck,  bird-like  head  and  many  other  bird-like 
characters,  though  no  wings  or  feathers. 

The  birds,  however,  even  though  reptile -like  in 
their  beginning,  must  soon  have  branched  out  on  a 
completely  new  line.  They  for  the  first  time  among 
this  group  of  animals,!  have  the  perfect  four-cham- 
bered heart  with  its  quick  circulation  and  warm 
blood  ;  while  not  only  do  they  use  their  fore  limbs 
for  flying  (for  this  some  reptiles  did  before  them),  but 
they  use  them  in  quite  a  new  fashion,  putting  forth 
a  clothing  of  feathers  of  wondrous  beauty  and  con- 
struction, and  with  true  wings  taking  possession  of 
the  air,  where  from  this  time  their  history  is  one  of 
continued  success. 

And  now  we  have  before  us  all  the  great  groups 
of  the  backboned  family — fish,  amphibia,  reptiles, 
birds  and  mammalia  ;  but  in  what  strange  propor- 
tions !  As  the  scenery  of  the  Chalk  Period  with  its 
fan-palms  and  pines  comes  before  us,  we  find  that 
the  gristly  fish,  except  the  sharks  and  a  few  solitary 
types,  are  fast  dying  out,  while  the  bony  fish  ||  are  but 
just  beginning  their  career.  The  large  amphibians 
are  all  gone  long  ago  ;  they  have  run  their  race, 
enjoyed  their  life  and  finished  their  course,  leaving 
only  the  small  newts  and  salamanders,  and  later  on 

*  Picture  heading,  Chap.  VI.      f  Ibid.  Chap.  VII.       %  Sauropsida. 
||  Picture  heading,  Chap.  III. 


BACKBONED  ANIMALS  IN  CHALK  PERIOD.   339 

the  frogs  and  toads,  to  keep  up  the  traditions  of  the 
race.  The  land-birds  are  still  in  their  earliest  stage  ; 
they  have  probably  scarcely  lost  their  lizard-like  tail, 
and  have  not  yet  perfected  their  horny  beak,  but  are 
only  feeling  their  way  as  conquerors  of  the  air.  And 
as  for  the  milk-givers,  though  we  have  met  with  them 
fn  small  early  forms,  yet  now  for  a  time  we  lose  sight 
of  them  again  altogether. 

It  is  the  reptiles — the  cold-blooded  monster  rep- 
tiles— which  seem  at  this  time  to  be  carrying  all 
before  them.  We  find  them  everywhere — in  the 
water,  with  paddles  for  swimming;  in  the  air,  with 
membranes  for  flying;  on  the  land  hopping  or  running 
on  their  hind  feet.  From  small  creatures  not  bigger 
than  two  feet  high,  to  huge  monsters  thirty  feet  in 
height,  feeding  on  the  tops  of  trees  which  our  giraffes 
and  elephants  could  not  reach,  they  fill  the  land  ; 
while  flesh-eating  reptiles,  quite  their  match  in  size 
and  strength,  prey  upon  them  as  lions  and  tigers  do 
upon  the  grassfeeders  now.*  This  is  no  fancy  pic- 
ture, for  in  our  museums,  and  especially  in  Professor 
Marsh's  wonderful  collection  in  Yale  Museum  in 
America,  you  may  see  the  skeletons  of  these  large 
reptiles,  and  build  them  up  again  in  imagination  as 
they  stood  in  those  ancient  days  when  they  looked 
down  upon  the  primitive  birds  and  tiny  marsupials, 
little  dreaming  that  their  own  race,  then  so  powerful, 
would  dwindle  away,  while  these  were  to  take  pos- 
session in  their  stead. 

And  now  in  our  series  of  changing  scenes  comes 
all  at  once  that  strange  blank  which  we  hope  one 
day  to  fill  up  ;  and  when  we  look  again  the  large 

*  Picture  heading,  Chap.  V. 


340  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

reptiles  are  gone,  the  birds  are  spreading  far  and 
wide,  and  we  come  upon  those  early  and  primitive 
forms  of  insect-eaters,  gnawers,  monkeys,  grass-feeders, 
and  large  flesh -eaters,  whose  descendants,  together 
with  those  of  the  earlier  marsupials,  are  henceforward 
to  spread  over  the  earth.  We  need  scarcely  carry 
our  pictures  much  farther.  We  have  seen  how,  in 
these  early  times,  the  flesh-feeders  and  grass-feeders 
were  far  less  perfectly  fitted  for  their  lives  than  they 
are  now  ;*  how  the  horse  has  only  gradually  acquired 
his  elegant  form  ;  the  stag  his  branching  antlers  ;  and 
the  cat  tribe  their  scissor-like  teeth,  powerful  jaws, 
and  muscular  limbs  ;  while  the  same  history  of  gradual 
improvement  applies  to  nearly  all  the  many  forms  of 
milk-givers. 

But  there  is  another  kind  of  change  which  we 
must  not  forget,  which  has  been  going  on  all  through 
this  long  history,  namely,  alterations  in  the  level  and 
shape  of  the  continents  and  islands,  as  coasts  have 
been  worn  away  in  some  places  and  raised  up  or 
added  to  in  others,  so  that  different  countries  have 
been  separated  from  or  joined  to  each  other.  Thus 
Australia,  now  standing  alone,  with  its  curious  animal 
life,  must  at  some  very  distant  time  have  been  joined 
to  the  mainland  of  Asia,  from  which  it  received  its 
low  forms  of  milk -givers,  and  since  then,  having 
become  separated  from  the  great  battlefield  of  the 
Eastern  Continent,  has  been  keeping  for  us,  as  it 
were  in  a  natural  isolated  zoological  garden,  the 
strange  primitive  Platypus  and  Echidna,  and  Mar- 
supials of  all  kinds  and  habits. 

So  too,  Africa,  no  doubt  for  a  long  time  cut  off 

*  Picture  heading,  Chap.  IX. 


DISAPPEARANCE  OF  HIGHER  MILK-GIVERS.  341 

by  a  wide  sea  which  prevented  the  larger  and  fiercer 
animals  from  entering  it,  harboured  the  large  wingless 
ostriches,  the  gentle  lemurs,  the  chattering  monkeys, 
the  scaly  manis,  and  a  whole  host  of  insect-eaters  ; 
while  South  America,  also  standing  alone,  gave  the 
sloths  and  armadilloes,  the  ant-bears,  opossums, 
monkeys,  rheas,  and  a  number  of  other  forms, 
the  chance  of  establishing  themselves  firmly  before 
stronger  enemies  came  to  molest  them.  These 
are  only  a  few  striking  examples  which  help  us  to 
see  how,  if  we  could  only  trace  them  out,  there  are 
reasons  to  be  found  why  each  animal  or  group  of 
animals  now  lives  where  we  find  it,  and  has  escaped 
destruction  in  one  part  of  the  world  when  it  has 
altogether  disappeared  in  others. 

So,  wandering  hither  and  thither,  the  backboned 
family,  and  especially  the  milk-givers,  took  possession 
of  plains  and  mountain  ranges,  of  forests  and  valleys, 
of  deserts  and  fertile  regions.  But  still  another 
question  remains — How  has  it  come  to  pass  that 
large  animals  which  once  ranged  all  over  Europe 
and  Northern  Asia, — mastodons,  tusked  tapirs,  rhino- 
ceroses, elephants,  sabre-toothed  tigers,  cave -lions, 
and  hippopotamuses  in  Europe,*  gigantic  sloths  and 
llamas  in  North  America,  and  even  many  huge  forms 
in  South  America,  have  either  been  entirely  destroyed 
or  are  represented  now  only  by  scattered  groups 
here  and  there  in  southern  lands  ?  What  put  an  end 
to  the  "  reign  of  the  milk-givers,"  and  why  have  they 
too  diminished  on  the  earth  as  the  large  fish,  the 
large  newts,  and  the  large  lizards  did  before  them  ? 

*  Picture  Heading,  Chap.  X. 


342  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

To  answer  this  question  we  must  take  up  our 
history  just  before  the  scene  at  the  head  of  our  last 
chapter,*  which  the  reader  may  have  observed  does 
not  refer,  as  the  others  have  done,  to  the  animals  in 
the  chapter  itself.  Nevertheless  it  has  its  true  place 
in  the  series,  for  it  tells  of  a  time  when  the  great 
army  of  milk-givers  had  its  difficulties  and  failures 
as  well  as  all  the  other  groups,  only  these  came  upon 
them  not  from  other  animals  but  from  the  influence 
of  snow  and  ice. 

For  we  know  that  gradually  from  the  time  of 
tropical  Europe,  when  all  the  larger  animals  flourished 
in  our  country,  a  change  was  creeping  very  slowly 
and  during  long  ages  over  the  whole  northern  hemi- 
sphere. The  climate  grew  colder  and  colder,  the 
tropical  plants  and  animals  were  driven  back  or  died 
away,  glaciers  grew  larger  and  snow  deeper  and  more 
lasting,  till  large  sheets  of  ice  covered  Norway  and 
Sweden,  the  northern  parts  of  Russia,  Germany, 
England,  Holland,  and  Belgium,  and  in  America 
the  whole  of  the  country  as  far  south  as  New  York. 
Then  was  what  geologists  call  the  "Glacial  Period;" 
and  whether  the  whole  country  was  buried  in  ice, 
or  large  separate  glaciers  and  thick  coverings  of 
snow  filled  the  land,  in  either  case  the  animals,  large 
and  small,  must  have  had  a  bad  time  of  it. 

True,  there  were  probably  warmer  intervals  in 
this  intense  cold,  when  the  more  southern  animals 
came  and  went,  for  we  find  bones  of  the  hip- 
popotamus, hyaena,  and  others  buried  between 
glacial  beds  in  the  south  of  England.  But  there 
is  no  doubt  that  at  this  time  numbers  of  land 

*  Chapter  XL,  Europe  in  the  Age  of  Ice. 


MAN  AND  HIS  FLINT  WEAPONS.  343 

animals  must  have  perished,  for  in  England  alone, 
out  of  fifty-three  known  species  which  lived  in  warmer 
times,  only  twelve  survived  the  great  cold,  while 
others  were  driven  southwards  never  to  return,  and 
the  descendants  of  others  came  back  as  new  forms, 
only  distantly  related  to  those  which  had  once 
covered  the  land. 

Moreover,  when  the  cold  passed  away  and  the 
country  began  again  to  be  covered  with  oak  and 
pine  forests  where  animals  might  feed  and  flourish, 
we  find  that  a  new  enemy  had  made  his  appearance. 
Man — active,  thinking,  tool-making  man — had  begun 
to  take  possession  of  the  caves  and  holes  of  the 
rocks,  making  weapons  out  of  large  flints  bound 
into  handles  of  wood,  and  lighting  fires  by  rubbing 
wood  together,  so  as  to  protect  himself  from  wild 
beasts  and  inclement  weather. 

In  America  and  in  England  alike,  as  well  as  in 
Northern  Africa,  Asia  Minor,  and  India,  we  know 
that  man  was  living  at  this  time  among  animals, 
many  of  them  of  species  which  have  since  become 
extinct,  and  with  his  rude  weapons  of  jagged  flint 
was  conquering  for  himself  a  place  in  the  world. 

He  must  have  had  a  hard  struggle,  for  we  find 
these  flint  implements  now  lying  among  the  bones 
of  hyaenas,  sabre-toothed  tigers,  cave -lions,  cave- 
bears,  rhinoceroses,  elephants,  and  hippopotamuses, 
showing  that  it  was  in  a  land  full  of  wild  beasts  that 
he  had  to  make  good  his  ground. 

"  By  the  swamp  in  the  forest 
The  oak-branches  groan, 
As  the  savage  primeval, 
With  russet  hair  thrown 

O'er  his  huge  naked  limbs,  swings  his  hatchet  of  stone. 
16 


344  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

<e  And  now,  hark  !  as  he  drives  with 
A  last  mighty  swing, 
The  stone  blade  of  the  axe  through 
The  oak's  central  ring, 
From  his  blanched  lips  what  screams  of  wild  agony  spring  ! 

There's  a  rush  through  the  fern-fronds, 
A  yell  of  affright, 
And  the  Savage  and  Sabre-tooth 
Close  in  fierce  fight, 
As  the  red  sunset  smoulders  and  blackens  to  night."* 

Many  and  fierce  these  conflicts  must  have  been, 
for  the  wild  beasts  were  still  strong  and  numerous, 
and  man  had  not  yet  the  skill  and  weapons  which  he 
has  since  acquired.  But  rough  and  savage  though 
he  may  have  been,  he  had  powers  which  made  him 
superior  to  all  around  him.  For  already  he  knew 
how  to  make  and  use  weapons  to  defend  himself, 
and  how  to  cover  himself  at  least  with  skins  as 
protection  from  cold  and  damp.  Moreover,  he  had 
a  brain  which  could  devise  and  invent,  a  memory 
which  enabled  him  to  accumulate  experience,  and  a 
strong  power  of  sympathy  which  made  him  a  highly 
social  being,  combining  with  others  in  the  struggle 
for  life. 

And  so  from  that  early  time  till  now,  man,  the 
last  and  greatest  winner  in  life's  race,  has  been  taking 
possession  of  the  earth.  With  more  and  more  power- 
ful weapons  he  has  fought  against  the  wild  beasts  in 
their  native  haunts  ;  and  by  clearing  away  the  large 
forests,  cutting  up  the  broad  prairies  and  pastures, 
and  cultivating  the  land,  he  has  turned  them  out 
of  their  old  feeding  grounds,  till  now  we  must  go 
to  the  centre  of  Africa,  the  wild  parts  of  Asia,  or 

*  From  "  A  Legend  of  a  Stone  Axe,"  a  clever  and  suggestive  poem 
in  the  New  Quarterly,  April  1879.     The  text  is  slightly  altered. 


CREATION  BY  EVOLUTION.  345 

the  boundless  forests  of  South  America,  to  visit  in 
their  homes  the  large  wild  animals  of  the  great 
army  of  milk-givers. 

Since,  therefore,  these  forms  are  growing  rarer 
every  century,  and  some  of  them,  such  as  the 
Dodo,  Epyornis,  and  Moa  among  birds,  and  the 
northern  sea-cow  or  Rhytina  among  milk -givers, 
have  already  disappeared  since  the  times  of  history, 
we  must  endeavour,  before  others  are  gone  for 
ever,  to  study  their  structure  and  their  habits. 
For  we  are  fast  learning  that  it  is  only  by  catching 
at  these  links  in  nature's  chain  that  we  can  hope  to 
unravel  the  history  of  life  upon  the  earth. 

At  one  time  naturalists  never  even  thought  that 
there  was  anything  to  unravel,  for  they  looked  upon 
the  animal  kingdom  as  upon  a  building  put  together 
brick  by  brick,  each  in  its  place  from  the  beginning. 
To  them,  therefore,  the  fact  that  a  fish's  fin,  a  bird's 
wing,  a  horse's  leg,  a  man's  arm  and  hand,  and  the 
flipper  of  a  whale,  were  all  somewhat  akin,  had  no 
other  meaning  than  that  they  seemed  to  have  been 
formed  upon  the  same  plan  ;  and  when  it  became 
certain  that  different  kinds  of  animals  had  appeared 
from  time  to  time  upon  the  earth,  the  naturalists  of 
fifty  years  ago  could  have  no  grander  conception 
than  that  new  creatures  were  separately  made  (they 
scarcely  asked  themselves  how)  and  put  into  the 
world  as  they  were  wanted. 

But  a  higher  and  better  explanation  was  soon  to 
be  found,  for  there  was  growing  up  among  us  the 
greatest  naturalist  and  thinker  of  our  day,  that  patient 
lover  and  searcher  after  truth,  Charles  Darwin,  whose 


346  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

genius  and  earnest  labours  opened  our  eyes  gradually 
to  a  conception  so  deep,  so  true,  and  so  grand,  that 
side  by  side  with  it  the  idea  of  making  an  animal 
from  time  to  time,  as  a  sculptor  makes  a  model  of 
clay,  seems  too  weak  and  paltry  ever  to  have  been 
attributed  to  an  Almighty  Power. 

By  means  of  the  facts  collected  by  our  great 
countryman  and  the  careful  conclusions  which  he 
drew  from  them,  we  have  learned  to .  see  that  there 
has  been  a  gradual  unfolding  of  life  upon  the  globe, 
just  as  a  plant  unfolds  first  the  seed-leaves,  then  the 
stem,  then  the  leaves,  then  the  bud,  the  flower,  and 
the  fruit  ;  so  that  though  each  part  has  its  own 
beauties  and  its  own  appointed  work,  we  cannot  say 
that  any  stands  alone,  or  could  exist  without  the 
whole.  Surely  then  Natural  History  acquires  quite 
a  new  charm  for  us  when  we  see  that  our  task 
is  to  study  among  living  forms,  and  among  the 
remains  of  those  that  are  gone,  what  has  been  the 
education  and  the  development  of  all  the  different 
branches,  so  as  to  lead  to  the  greatest  amount  of 
widespreading  life  upon  the  globe,  each  having  its 
own  duty  to  perform.  With  the  great  thought  before 
us  that  every  bone,  every  hair,  every  small  peculiarity, 
every  tint  of  colour,  has  its  meaning,  and  has,  or  has 
had,  its  use  in  the  life  of  each  animal  or  those  that 
have  gone  before  it,  a  lifelong  study  even  can  never 
weary  us  in  thus  tracing  out  the  working  of  Nature's 
laws,  which  are  but  the  expression  to  us  of  the  mind 
of  the  great  Creator. 

When  we  once  realise  that  whether  in  attacking 
or  avoiding  an  enemy  it  is  in  most  cases  a  great 
advantage  to  all  animals  to  be  hidden  from  view, 


CREA TION  BY  DE VELOPMENT.  347 

and  that  each  creature  has  arrived  at  this  advantage 
by  slow  inheritance,  so  that  their  colours  often 
exactly  answer  the  purpose,  how  wonderful  becomes 
the  gray  tint  of  the  slug,  the  imitation  of  bark  in  the 
wings  of  the  buff-tip  moth,  the  green  and  brown  hues 
of  the  eatable  caterpillars,  the  white  coat  of  the  polar 
bear,  and  the  changing  colour  of  the  arctic  fox,  the 
ermine,  and  the  ptarmigan,  as  winter  comes  on  !  And 
when,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find  badly-tasting  crea- 
tures such  as  ladybirds  and  some  butterflies,  or 
stinging  animals  like  bees  and  wasps,  having  bright 
colours,  because  it  is  an  actual  advantage  to  them  to 
be  known  and  avoided,  we  see  that  in  studying  colour 
alone  we  might  spend  a  lifetime  learning  how  the 
winners  in  life's  race  are  those  best  fitted  for  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  they  live,  so  that  in  ever- 
changing  variety  the  most  beautifully-adapted  forms 
flourish  and  multiply. 

Then  if  we  turn  to  the  skeleton  and  the  less  con- 
spicuous framework  of  the  body,  the  flippers  of  the 
whale,  the  manatee,  or  the  seal,  doing  the  work  of  a 
fish's  fin  and  yet  having  the  bones  of  a  hand  and 
arm,  reveal  a  whole  history  to  us  when  we  have  once 
learned  the  secret  that  in  the  attempt  to  increase  and 
multiply  no  device  is  left  untried  by  any  group  of 
animals,  and  so  every  possible  advantage  is  turned 
to  account. 

Next,  the  wonderful  instincts  taught  by  long 
experience  give  us  a  whole  field  of  study.  We  see 
how  frogs  and  reptiles,  and  even  higher  animals  such 
as  marmots,  squirrels,  shrews  and  bears,  escape  the 
cold  and  scarcity  of  food  in  winter  by  burying  them- 
selves in  mud,  or  in  holes  of  trees  or  caves  of  the 


348  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

earth  till  spring  returns ;  and  while  we  find  alligators 
burying  themselves  in  cold  weather  in  America,  we 
find  crocodiles,  on  the  contrary,  taking  their  sleep  in 
the  hot  dry  weather  in  Egypt  because  then  is  their 
time  of  scarcity. 

Then  we  learn  that  the  birds  avoid  this  difficulty 
of  change  of  climate  in  quite  another  manner.  They 
with  their  power  of  flight  have  learned  to  migrate, 
sometimes  for  short  distances,  sometimes  for  more 
than  a  thousand  miles,  so  that  they  bring  up  their 
young  ones  in  the  cool  north  in  summer,  when  cater- 
pillars and  soft  young  insects  are  at  hand  for  their 
prey,  and  lead  them  in  the  winter  to  the  sunny  south 
where  food  and  shelter  in  green  trees  are  always  to 
be  found.  So  long  indeed  has  this  instinct  of  migra- 
tion been  at  work,  that  often  we  are  quite  baffled 
in  trying  to  understand  why  they  take  this  or  that 
particular  route  for  their  flight,  because  probably, 
when  the  first  stragglers  chose  it,  even  the  areas  of 
land  and  water  were  not  divided  as  now,  so  that  we 
must  study  the  whole  history  of  the  changing  geo- 
graphy of  the  earth  to  understand  the  yearly  route 
of  the  swallow  or  the  stork. 

And  last  but  not  least,  when  we  look  upon  the 
whole  animal  creation  as  the  result  of  the  long  work- 
ing out  of  nature's  laws  as  laid  down  from  the  first 
by  the  Great  Power  of  the  Universe,  what  new 
pleasure  we  find  in  every  sign  of  intelligence,  affec- 
tion, and  devotion  in  the  lower  creatures  !  For  these 
show  that  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  animal  life 
have  not  only  led  to  wonderfully-formed  bodies,  but 
also  to  higher  and  more  sensitive  natures  ;  and  that 
intelligence  and  love  are  often  as  useful  weapons 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DEVOTION  IN  ANIMALS.  349 

in  fighting  the  battle  of   life    as    brute    force    and 
ferocity. 

Even  among  the  fish,  which,  as  a  rule,  drop  their 
eggs  and  leave  them  to  their  fate,  we  have  excep- 
tions in  the  nest-building  sticklebacks  and  the  snake- 
headed  fish  of  Asia,  which  watch  over  and  defend 
their  fry  till  they  are  strong,  in  the  pipe-fish  where 
the  fathers  carry  the  young  in  a  pouch,  and  in  sharks 
which  travel  in  pairs ;  while  a  pike  has  been  known  to 
watch  for  days  at  the  spot  where  his  mate  was  caught 
and  taken  away,  and  mackerel  and  herrings  live  in 
shoals  and  probably  call  to  each  other  across  the  sea. 

Among  the  other  cold-blooded  animals — the  frogs, 
newts,  and  reptiles — it  is  true  we  find  less  show  of 
feeling,  but  we  must  remember  that  these  are  only 
poor  remaining  fragments  of  large  groups  which  have 
disappeared  from  the  earth.  Even  among  the  am- 
phibia however  a  tame  toad  will  become  attached 
to  one  person  ;  while  among  reptiles,  lizards  are  full 
of  intelligence  and  affection,  and  snakes  are  well- 
known  for  their  fondness  for  their  owners.  The 
case  of  the  snake  which  died  by  its  master's  side 
when  he  fell  down  insensible,*  if  it  can  be  relied 
upon,  would  show  that  even  cold-blooded  animals 
have  tender  hearts. 

Yet  these  are  all  instances  of  affection  of  lower 
animals  to  man.  We  must  turn  to  the  birds,  that 
group  which  has  gone  on  increasing  in  strength  and 
numbers  down  to  our  day,  to  find  that  tender  devo- 
tion which  watches  over  the  helpless  nursling,  de- 
fends the  young  at  the  risk  of  life,  nay,  like  the 
peewit  with  the  dragging  wing,  will  even  run  in  the 

*  Animal  Intelligence,  Romanes,  p.  261. 


35°  THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

face  of  death  to  lure  the  cruel  destroyer  away  from 
the  hidden  nest.  Natural  history  teems  with  ex- 
amples of  birds  faithful  to  each  other  and  pining 
even  till  death  for  the  loss  of  a  mate  ;  while  many 
birds,  such  as  rooks,  starlings,  wild  geese,  swans,  and 
cranes,  not  only  live  in  companies  and  exact  obedi- 
ence from  their  members,  but  even  set  sentinels  to 
watch,  the  duties  of  the  office  being  faithfully 
fulfilled. 

Then  again  it  is  to  the  higher  animals,  those 
nearer  to  ourselves,  that  we  must  look  for  the  truest 
affection,  and  the  strongest  proofs  of  that  obedience 
and  sympathy  which  lead  them  to  unite  and  so 
become  strong  in  the  face  of  danger.  Among  the 
beasts  of  prey  it  is  true  that,  except  the  wolves  and 
jackals,  none  herd  together  ;  but  family  love  is  strong 
and  true.  No  tiger  is  so  dangerous  as  is  the  mother 
tigress  if  any  one  approaches  her  young  ones,  or  the 
lioness  whose  cubs  are  attacked,  and  in  our  own 
homes  we  all  know  the  tenderness  and  devotion  of  a 
cat  to  her  kittens.  Nevertheless,  these  animals  have 
very  little  social  feeling ;  theirs  are  the  narrower 
virtues  of  courage  and  fidelity  to  home,  and  to  the 
duty  of  providing  food  for  wife  and  children.  It  is 
among  the  gentler  vegetable-feeders, — the  antelopes 
and  gazelles,  the  buffaloes,  horses,  elephants,  and 
monkeys,  —  that  we  find  the  instinct  of  herding 
together  for  protection,  and  with  this  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  duty  of  obedience  and  fidelity  to  the  herd 
and  to  one  another. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  this  was  necessary  to  pro- 
tect these  feebler  animals  from  the  attacks  of  their 
ferocious  neighbours,  and  also  what  an  advantage 


MUTUAL  HELP  A  LAW  OF  LIFE.  351 

they  had  when  they  had  once  learned  to  set  sentinels 
who  understood  the  duty  of  watching  while  others 
fed,  as  in  the  case  of  the  chamois  and  seals,  of  obey- 
ing the  signal  of  a  leader  like  the  young  baboons  on 
the  march,  or  of  putting  the  mothers  and  children  in 
the  centre  for  protection,  as  horses  and  buffaloes  do. 

And  there  is  a  real  significance  in  this  gradual 
education  in  duty  to  others  which  we  must  not 
overlook,  for  it  shows  that  one  of  the  laws  of  life 
which  is  as  strong,  if  not  stronger,  than  the  law  of 
force  and  selfishness,  is  tJiat  of  mutual  help  and  de- 
pendence. Many  good  people  have  shrunk  from  the 
idea  that  we  owe  the  beautiful  diversity  of  animal 
life  on  our  earth  to  the  struggle  for  existence,  or  to 
the  necessity  that  the  best  fitted  should  live,  and  the 
feeblest  and  least  protected  must  die.  They  have  felt 
that  this  makes  life  a  cruelty,  and  the  world  a  battle- 
field. This  is  true  to  a  certain  extent,  for  who  will 
deny  that  in  every  life  there  is  pain  and  suffering 
and  struggle  ?  But  with  this  there  is  also  love  and 
gentleness,  devotion  and  sacrifice  for  others,  tender 
motherly  and  fatherly  affection,  true  friendship,  and 
a  pleasure  which  consists  in  making  others  happy. 

This  we  might  have  thought  was  a  gift  only  to 
ourselves — an  exception  only  found  in  the  human 
race  ;  now  we  see  that  it  has  been  gradually  develop- 
ing throughout  the  whole  animal  world,  and  that  the 
love  of  fathers  and  mothers  for  their  young  is  one 
of  the  first  and  greatest  weapons  in  fighting  life's 
battle.  So  we  learn  that  after  all,  the  struggle  is 
not  entirely  one  of  cruelty  or  ferocity,  but  that  the 
higher  the  animal  life  becomes,  the  more  import- 
ant is  family  love  and  the  sense  of  affection  for 


352  THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 

others,  so  that  at  last  a  fierce  beast  of  prey  with 
strength  and  sharp  tools  at  his  command,  is  foiled 
in  attacking  a  weak  young  calf,  because  the  elders 
of  the  herd  gather  round  him,  and  the  destroyer  is 
kept  at  bay. 

Surely  then  we  have  here  a  proof  that,  after  all, 
the  highest  and  most  successful  education  which  Life 
has  given  her  children  to  fit  them  for  winning  the 
race  is  that  "unity  is  strength  ;"  while  the  law  of 
love  and  duty  beginning  with  parent  and  child  and 
the  ties  of  home  life,  and  developing  into  the  mutual 
affection  of  social  animals,  has  been  throughout  a 
golden  thread,  strengthened  by  constant  use  in  con- 
tending with  the  fiercer  and  more  lawless  instincts. 

So  it  becomes  evident  that  the  beautiful  virtue  of 
self-devotion,  one  of  the  highest  man  can  practise,  has 
its  roots  in  the  very  existence  of  life  upon  the  earth. 
It  may  appear  dimly  at  first, — it  may  take  a  hard 
mechanical  form  in  such  lowly  creatures  as  insects, 
where  we  saw  the  bees  and  ants  sacrificing  all  tender 
feelings  to  the  good  of  the  community.  But  in  the 
backboned  family  it  exists  from  the  very  first  as  the 
tender  love  of  mother  for  child,  of  the  father  for  his 
mate  and  her  young  ones,  and  so  upwards  to  the 
defence  of  the  tender  ones  of  the  herd  by  the  strong 
and  well-armed  elders,  till  it  has  found  its  highest 
development  in  man  himself. 

Thus  we  arrive  at  the  greatest  and  most  important 
lesson  that  the  study  of  nature  affords  us.  It  is  in- 
teresting, most  interesting,  to  trace  the  gradual  evolu- 
tion of  numberless  different  forms,  and  see  how  each 
has  become  fitted  for  the  life  it  has  to  live.  It  gives 
us  courage  to  struggle  on  under  difficulties  when  we 


MUTUAL  HELP  A  LAW  OF  LIFE.  353 

see  how  patiently  the  lower  animals  meet  the  dangers 
and  anxieties  of  their  lives,  and  conquer  or  die  in  the 
struggle  for  existence.  But  far  beyond  all  these  is  the 
great  moral  lesson  taught  at  every  step  in  the  history 
of  the  development  of  the  animal  world,  that  amidst 
toil  and  suffering,  struggle  and  death,  the  supreme 
law  of  life  is  the  law  of  SELF-DEVOTION  AND  LOVE. 


INDEX. 

References  printed  in  Italics  are  to  Figures  in  the  Text. 


Aard-vark,  or  Cape  ant-eater,  202  ; 

habits  of,  203. 
Adjutant    bird    killing    the    cobra, 

121;  with  its  feet  fiat,  128. 
^pyornis  of  Madagascar,  140. 
Affection  in  animals,  348-352. 
Africa,  aard-vark  and  pangolin 

of,   202  ;  darting  birds  of,   1 68  ; 

isolation    of,    in    ancient    times, 

340  ;  wild  animals  of,  275. 
Air-bladder,  uses  and  hindrances  of 

an,   53  ;   of  fish,  use  of,  26 ;    of 

minnow,  25  ;  of  mud-fish,  55. 
Air-breatkers,  home  of  the  early,  70. 
Air-breathing  fish,  34. 
Air-sacs  in  bones  of  birds,  135. 
Alaska,  sea-otters  of,  301. 
Albatross,  habits  of  the,  146;  home 

of  the,  147. 

Aldabra,  tortoises  of,  101. 
Aleutian  Isles,  sea-lions  of  the,  306, 

310. 

Alligators  acting  as  scavengers,  109. 
Alytes,  a  frog-father  carrying  strings 

of  eggs,  87. 
Amazons,   manatees    in    the,    316  ; 

monkeys  of  the,   246  ;   mud-fish 

of  the,  33. 
Amblystoma,  air-breathing  form  of 

axolotl,  8 1. 
America,  absence  of  wild  hogs  in 

North,  263 ;  beaver  communities 

of,  229  ;  earliest  forms  of  horse 


come  from,  265  ;  jaguar  and 
puma  of,  292 ;  passenger  pigeons 
of,  1 62  ;  ant-bear  of,  200  ;  char- 
acters of  monkeys  of,  245  ; 
sturgeon  in  rivers  of,  32  ;  song- 
less  perching-birds  of,  169;  stags 
with  single  antlers  in,  273. 

American  and  Australian  colonists, 
argument  drawn  from,  131. 

Ammoccetes,  history  of,  18  ;  larva 
of  lamprey,  1 6. 

Amphibia,  ancestors  of  the  mam- 
malia, 191 ;  large  ancient,  82-84  '•> 
wonderful  metamorphosis  of,  335. 

Amphibian,  true  meaning  of  the 
term,  77,  8 1. 

Amphioxus  lanceolatus,  II. 

Ancestors  of  the  higher  milk-givers, 
213. 

Angling-fish,    Lophius  piscatorius, 

59- 

Animals,  affection  and  devotion  in, 
348-352  ;  combination  for  de- 
fence among,  350  ;  narrow  range 
of  lower,  2  ;  which  have  taken 
to  the  water,  300  ;  living  with 
early  man  in  England,  343. 

Anoplotherium,  209  ;  one  of  the 
ancestors  of  hogs  and  rhinoceroses, 

213,    201. 

Ant,  limit  of  powers  of  the,  6. 
Ant-bear  of  South  America,   200; 
habits  and  strength  of,  204. 


356 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


Antelopes,  range   of,  274  ;  setting 

sentinels,  269. 
Antlers,    gradual    development    of, 

273. 

Apteryx,  or  Kiwi,    140  ;  structure 

and  habits  of,  139. 
Aquatic  mammalia,  300. 
Archseopteryx,  or   ancient    winged 

bird,    129,    131  ;    restoration   of, 

153. 

Arctocyon,  209 ;  ancestor  of  carni- 
vores, 213. 

Arm,  modifications  of  the,  347. 

Armadilloes,  with  plates  like  a  cro- 
codile, 204  ;  figured,  200. 

Ascidian,  growth  of  an,  14. 

Ass,  skeleton  of  a  wild,  266. 

Australia,  bats  and  mice  in,  230  ; 
duck-billed  platypus  of,  187;  iso- 
lation of,  340  ;  mud-fish  of,  33  ; 
why  the  home  of  marsupials,  185. 

Australian  marsupials,  193. 

Australian  and  American  colonists, 
argument  drawn  from,  131. 

Axolotl  and  amblystoma,  80. 

Axolotl,  metamorphosis  of,  into 
amblystoma,  81. 

Aye-aye,  habits  of  the,  245  ;  figured, 
244. 

BABIRUSA,    a    double-tusked    hog, 

262. 
Baboon,  fetching  a  young  one,  250  ; 

structure  and  habits  of,  249. 
Backbone,  first  start  of  a,   12 ;   of 

the  minnow,  24. 
Backboned  division,  3  ;   advantage 

of  skeleton   in    the,    7 ;    lowest 

form  of  the,  10-15. 
Badgers,  small  carnivores,  281. 
Bandicoots,  marsupial   rabbit -rats, 

195- 

Bangsrings,  insect-eaters,  232. 
Barbets,  climbing  birds,  165. 
Basking  shark,  28. 
Bat,  fiying,  220  ;  long-eared,  236  ; 

skeleton  of  a,  233  ;  walking,  235. 


Bats,  structure  and  habits  of,  233- 
237  ;  affection  for  young,  238  ; 
enemies  of,  236;  fruit-,  in  Mau- 
ritius, 238  ;  the  only  true  flying 
milk-givers,  232-237  ;  self-guid- 
ing power  of,  234  ;  vast  masses  in 
caves,  236. 

Bear,  hug  of  the,  295  ;  grizzly,  an 
animal  feeder,  295  ;  Polar,  294  ; 
food  of,  293 ;  habits  of,  296. 

Bears,  largely  vegetarian,  293  ; 
walk  flat-footed,  294. 

Beaver,  227  ;  structure  and  habits  of 
the,  228. 

Beaver-meadows,  229. 

Beckles  cited,  212. 

Bee-eaters  of  Africa,  1 68. 

Beryx,    a   deep-sea  fish,    43,    47, 

5°- 

Bichir  of  the  Nile,  33. 

Bird,  the  structure  of  a,  124-129. 

Bird-life  as  a  whole,  179. 

Birds,  ancient,  123,  153;  with 
jointed  tails,  130  ;  with  teeth, 
1 30 ;  arose  not  direct  from  rep- 
tiles but  from  a  common  ancient 
stock,  131  ;  avoiding  winter  by 
migration,  348  ;  climbing,  162  ; 
dangers  of  land,  154-156  ;  dart- 
ing, 167  ;  feet  of  perching,  155  ; 
ground,  156;  a  group  of  wading, 
149  ;  growth  of  feathers  of,  133  ; 
habits  of  scratching,  156;  linked 
in  structure  to  reptiles,  129 ; 
love-time  of  the,  1 24 ;  lungs 
of,  135  ;  migrations  of,  142, 
151,  155,  177;  mound-building, 
158;  nest-building,  170;  origin 
of.  337  ;  perching,  168  ;  of  prey, 
174;  range  of,  136;  rise  from 
ground  to  perching,  159;  run- 
ning, 136-140;  sea,  142;  sing- 
ing, 1 68  ;  songless,  169;  struc- 
ture of  water-,  141  ;  third  eyelid 
of,  1 36  ;  throat  of  singing,  1 69  ; 
wading,  148;  warmer  -  blooded 
than  man,  135  ;  wingless,  139. 


INDEX. 


357 


Bisons,    protecting    a   young    one, 

269 ;    the    only    ruminants     of 

America,  274. 
Blennies,  walking-fish,  57. 
Blue  shark,  Carcharias  glaticus,  29. 
Boa  constrictor  of  America,   115; 

manner  of  seizing  and  devouring 

prey,  117. 

Boar,  defences  of  the  wild,  260. 
"  Bombay  Duck  "  a  phosphorescent 

fish,  48  ;  figured,  see  frontispiece. 
Bone  at  tip  of  mole's  nose,  224. 
Bonito,  a  fish,  without  air-bladder, 

53- 

Bony  fish,  agility  of,  44  ;  or  modern 
fish,  27  ;  early  forms  of,  43  ; 
origin  of,  45  ;  rise  and  spread 
of,  43  ;  structure  of,  45. 

Bony  pike  of  North  America,  33. 

Box-tortoises  closing  their  shell,  101. 

Brazil,  monkeys  of,  246. 

Breast -bone,  flat  in  running  birds, 
136  ;  keeled  of  flying  birds,  124. 

Breathing  apparatus  of  birds,  135  ; 
of  bony  fish,  45  ;  of  frog,  75,  76  ; 
of  lamprey,  17  ;  of  lancelet,  12  ; 
of  marsupials,  192  ;  of  minnow, 
23  ;  of  mud-fish,  34  ;  of  seals, 
308  ;  of  shark,  30  ;  of  the  snake, 
113;  of  sturgeon,  32;  of  tad- 
pole, 73,  74 ;  of  tortoise,  95  ;  of 
whales,  321. 

British  Museums,  specimens  in,  32, 

34- 
Brush -turkeys  and  their  mounds, 

I58. 

Buffalo  cow  defending  her  calf,  274. 
Buzzard  killing  a  viper,  1 20. 

CHILIANS,  nearest  type  to  Laby- 
rinthodonts,  84;  worm-like  am- 
phibians, 82. 

Calf-fish  or  amia,  33. 

California,  sea-otters  of,  301. 

Californian  gray  whale  in  ice,  330  ; 
killed  by  a  shoal  of  grampuses, 
325. 


Camel,    270 ;    the    only   ruminant 

with  upper  front  teeth,  270. 
Capybaras  of  South  America,  215. 
Carapace  of  tortoise,  98. 
Carnivora,    or   flesh  -  feeders,    257, 

259  ;  ancestors  of  the,  213  ;  the 

smaller,  280. 

Carnivorous  marsupials,  196. 
Carp  family,  65. 
Cartilaginous  fish,  31-42. 
Cassowary  of  New  Guinea,  139. 
Cat-fish,  65. 

Cat  less  tamable  than  dog,  287. 
Cave-lion  in  England,  343. 
Celebes,  double-tusked  hog  of,  262. 
Ceratodus  or  "  Barramunda,"  34  ; 

a  descendant  of  ancient  fish,  39. 
Chalk  Period,  extinction  of  reptiles 

in  the,  211. 
Chameleon,     105 ;     structure     and 

habits  of,  1 06,  107. 
Chauliodus,  a  deep-sea    fish,   47  ; 

figured,  see  frontispiece. 
Chauvin,  Marie  von,  cited,  81. 
Chimasra  between  sharks  and  stur- 
geons, 41. 

Chimpanzee,  home  of  the,  253. 
Chinchillas  of  South  America,  225. 
Circulation  of  blood  in  frog,  76. 
Clavelina,  larval  form  of,  14. 
Claws,  retractile  of  felines,  289. 
Climbing  birds,  paired  toes  of  the. 

163;  build  in  tree-holes,  164 
Clinging  fish,  51,  57,  58. 
Coal-forests,  amphibians  of  the,  82. 
Coast  fish,  57. 
Cobra,  enemies  of  the,  121. 
Cobra  di  Capello,  1 1 8. 
Cold  blood,   the   cause   of,   in   the 

frog,  76. 
Cold-blooded  life  in  reptiles,   90; 

cold-blooded  vertebrates,  24. 
Colours,  protective,  347. 
Cohtgo,  a  flying  insect-eater,  231. 
Conger  eels,  49. 
Conodonts,  probably  lamprey's  teeth, 

19. 


358 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFERS  RACE. 


Cope,  Prof.,  cited,  212,  190. 
Cormorant,  figured^  144. 
Coryphsena  or  dorado,  53. 
Cow  chewing  the  cud,  259, 
Cranes,  migrations  of,  152. 
Creation  a  gradual  change,  336. 
Creepers,  172. 
Creative  power,  ever  silent  working 

of  the,  336  ;  high  conception  of 

the,  345. 
Crocodile,  1 08  ;  care  for  her  young, 

1 10 ;  habits  and  structure  of  the, 

1 08. 

Crop  of  pigeons,  161. 
Crustaceans,  huge,  in  time  of  early 

fish,  37. 

Cuckoo,  sometimes  builds  a  nest,  1 66. 
Cud,  chewing  the,   259. 
Cumberland,  Mr.,  on  vitality  of  ant- 
bear,  205. 

Curlews,  wading  birds,  148. 
Cyclostomata,  round-mouthed  fishes, 

16. 

DACE,  65. 

Dactylopterus,  or   flying  gurnards, 

55'. 
Darwin,  on  blood-sucking  bats,  237 ; 

on  Galapagos  tortoises,  101  ;  on 

evolution,  345. 
D'Azara  on  ant-bear,  205. 
Deep  -  sea   fish,   47  -  50  ;   rising   at 

night,  50. 
Deer,    growth  of  antlers  of,    271  ; 

range  of,  273. 

Depth  at  which  fish  live,  49. 
Desman,  226. 

Devotion  in  animals,  348-352. 
Dingo    dog,    probably    brought    to 

Australia,  194. 

Dinichthys ,  a  huge  Devonian  fish,  40. 
Dinocerata,  ancestors  of  elephants 

and  hoofed  animals,  260. 
Dinprnis,  extinct  wingless  bird,  140. 
Dipper,  or  water-ouzel,  172. 
Dipterus,  a  large  ancient  fish,  39. 
Disk  of  the  Remora,  52. 


Dodo  flat-breasted  pigeon,  161. 

Dog,  descended  from  wolves  and 
jackals,  286. 

Dog-fish,  28. 

Dolphins  travel  in  shoals,  323. 

Dorado  pursuing  flying-fish,  54. 

Doras,  a  land-travelling  fish,  66. 

Dromatherium,  jaw  of,  183. 

Duck,  structure  of  the,  141. 

Duck-billed  platypus  and  its  home, 
1 88  ;  the  lowest  type  of  milk- 
giver,  1 88. 

Dugong,  a  tusked  sea-cow,  314. 

Dunlins,  wading-birds,  148. 

Eagle  bringing  food  to  its  young,  175. 

Eared-seals,  history  of  the,  310. 

Echidna,  188  ;  a  low  milk-giver, 
190. 

Edentata,  low  and  antiquated  forms, 
20 1  ;  former  history  of,  201. 

Eels  and  eel-fares,  66. 

Efts,  huge,  of  olden  times,  82  ;  or 
newts  of  our  ponds,  78. 

Egg-birth,  dangers  of,  184. 

Eggs,  of  the  crocodile,  no;  of 
fish  carried  in  the  father's  mouth, 
65  ;  of  frogs,  7 1  ;  of  ostriches 
cracked  by  the  father,  139  ;  of 
fish,  modes  of  transport  of,  66  ; 
of  shark,  28,  42  ;  of  snake,  116. 

Eider-duck,  range  of  the,  142. 

Elastic  band  in  front  of  snake's  jaw, 
in. 

Elephant,  affinity  to  rodents,  276  ; 
the  Indian,  277  ;  intelligence  of 
the,  278  ;  structure  of  the,  276- 
279  ;  tooth  and  tusk  of,  found  in 
Australia,  194  ;  -seal,  314. 

Emus,  pairing  birds,  139. 

Enamel-scaled  fish,  33. 

EohippuSy  209  ;  ancestor  of  the 
horse,  213,  261. 

Europe  in  the  age  of  ice,  299. 

Evolution,  of  sympathy  and  self- 
sacrifice,  352  ;  taught  by  Darwin, 
345- 


INDEX. 


359 


Exoccetus,  the  flying-fish,  54. 
Eyelid,  third,  in  reptiles  and  birds, 

109,  136. 
Eyelids,    absence    of,   distinguishes 

snakes  from  legless  lizards,  no. 

FALCON,  swooping  of  the,  176. 

Fangs  of  poisonous  snakes,  119. 

Feather,  number  of  threads  in  an 
eagle's,  133. 

Feathers  of  birds,  their  growth  and 
importance,  133,  134. 

Feet,  grasping  of  perching  birds,  155. 

Felines,  highest  type  of  flesh-feeder, 
290  ;  kill  by  a  blow,  288  ;  re- 
tractile claws  of,  289. 

Fins  of  the  minnow,  24. 

Fish,  affection  shown  by,  69  ;  age 
of  the  gristly,  333  ;  air-bladder 
of,  25  ;  ancient  forms  of,  33,  37- 
42  ;  blind,  of  Kentucky  caves, 
68  ;  come  to  the  coast  to  spawn, 
57;  deep-sea,  47-50;  lowest 
type  of,  II;  limbs  of,  25  ;  mam- 
mals which  imitate,  318  ;  muscu- 
lar power  of,  24  ;  ocean  home  of 
the,  21  ;  of  the  old  or  gristly  type, 
27  ;  parental  care  in,  349  ;  skele- 
tons of  deep-sea,  49  ;  small  an- 
cient, 20,  34  -  42  ;  varieties  of 
modern,  46  ;  weapons  of,  29,  40, 
42,  48,  52,  58,  59,  64,  68. 

Fishing  frog,  Lophius,  59. 

Fish-life,  general  sketch  of,  67. 

Fish-lizards  of  olden  times,  92. 

Flamingo,  half-way  between  waders 
and  swimmers,  150. 

Flat-fish,  structure  of,  6 1. 

Flint  tools  of  early  man,  343. 

Flying-fish,  53-55. 

Flying-gurnards,  55. 

Food  of  land-birds,  155. 

Fowls  and  their  relations,  157. 

Fox,  a  solitary  hunter,  285  ;  range 
of  the,  286. 

France,  tree-frogs  of,  87. 

Freshwater  fish,  65. 


Frigate-bird,  perches  on  trees,  148. 

Frog,  a  recent  form  of  amphibian, 
84  ;  carrying  young  in  a  pouch, 
87  ;  carrying  eggs  and  tadpoles, 
87  ;  metamorphosis  of  the,  72-76; 
lungs  of,  76  ;  more  nearly  allied 
to  fish  than  reptiles,  129  ;  mouth 
and  tongue  of,  77 ;  respiring 
skin  of,  77  ;  spawn  described, 
71  ;  tree-,  of  New  Guinea,  86. 

Fruit-bats,  238. 

Fur-seals,  history  of,  310. 

GADOW,  DR.  ,  on  number  of  threads 

in  an  eagle's  feather,  133. 
Galagos  or  lemurs  of  Africa,  243. 
Galapagos,  tortoises  of,  101. 
Galeopithecus  or  Colugo,  231. 
Gaudry  cited,  212. 
Gautier,  M.,  on  snake  poison,  119. 
Gecko  or  wall  lizard,  105. 
Geese,  range  of  wild,  142. 
Geography,  changes  in  physical,  340. 
Germany,   beaver   communities   in, 

229. 

Gibbons,  or  long-armed  apes,  251. 
Gibraltar,  monkeys  on  the  rock  of, 

241. 
Gills  of  Axolotl,  80  ;   of  bony  fish, 

45  ;    of   embryo   shark,    73  ;    of 

the  minnow,  22  ;  ofproteus,  79; 

of  sea-horse,  63  ;  of  shark,  30  ; 

of  sturgeon,  32;  of  tadpole,  73. 
Giraffes,  structure  of,  271. 
Glacial  Period,  342. 
Glass-snake  of  America,  107. 
Globe-fish,  55. 
Glyptodons,    ancient     armadilloes, 

202,  208. 

Goats  and  sheep,  range  of,  274. 
Gobies,  clinging  by  the  throat,  58. 
Golden   age   of  amphibia,   83  ;    of 

ancient  fish,  40 ;  of  reptiles,  92. 
Gorilla,  at  Jwme,  254  ;  driving  out 

elephant,    251  ;     structure    and 

habits  of,  253. 
Grampus,  a  flesh-feeding  whale,  325. 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


Gray,  Capt.,  on  whalebone,  329. 
Greek  tortoise,  96 ;  killed  by  birds, 

101. 
Greenland    whale,    traces    of   hind 

limbs  in  the,  318. 
Gristly  skeleton  of  shark,  3 1 . 
Ground -birds,   156-161  ;  generally 

polygamous,  161. 
Ground  -  pigeons    of   New   Guinea, 

161. 

•  Grouse  are  ground-nesters,  156. 
Gudgeon,  65. 
Guillemots,    homes    of  the,     144  ; 

silvery  bubbles  on,  143. 
Gulls  and  their  homes,  144. 
Gunther,  Dr.,  on  deep-sea  fish,  49. 
Gurnards  walking,  57. 

HADDOCK,  destroyed  by  hags,  18. 

Haddon,  Prof.,  A.C.,  drawings  by, 
II,  14,  23. 

Hadrosaurus,  93. 

Hags  or  borers,  16,  18. 

Hang-nests  of  America,  173. 

Harpodon,  a  deep-sea  fish,  47  ; 
figured,  see  frontispiece. 

Harvest -mouse  and  shrew  com- 
pared, 218. 

Hawksbill  turtle,  tortoise-shell  of, 

97- 

Hearing  apparatus  of  herrings,  56. 

Heart,  of  amphibia  and  reptiles, 
74,  76,  96;  of  birds,  135;  of 
fishes,  23  ;  of  frog,  three-cham- 
bered, 76  ;  of  tadpole,  two-cham- 
bered, 74;  three  -  chambered,  of 
tortoise,  96. 

Hedgehog,  220 ;  structure  and  habits 

Of,   220. 

Herbivora,  ancestors  of  the,  213  ; 
advantage  of  struggle  for  exist- 
ence to  the,  282  ;  defences  of 
the,  259 ;  large  stomachs  of, 
258  ;  structure  of  the,  258 ; 
uniting  for  defence,  350;  wide 
range  of,  257. 

Heron,  strokes  of  wing  of,  134 ;  a 


tree-building  wader,  152  ;  grasp- 
ing foot  of  the,  152. 

Herrings  probably  call  to  each 
other,  56  ;  their  habits  and 
structure,  56. 

Hesperornis,  \y>;  figured,  123. 

Heterocercal  tails,  30. 

Hippocampus  or  sea-horse,  63. 

Hippopotamus,  defences  of  the, 
263  ;  former  range  of  the,  263  ; 
in  glacial  beds,  342. 

Hissing  of  a    snake,  how  caused, 

113- 

Hogs,  early  types  without  tusks, 
260  ;  various  kinds  of,  263. 

Homocercal  tails,  30. 

Hoofs  as  defences,  260. 

Horns,  absence  of,  in  early  forms, 
260  ;  as  defences,  260 ;  perma- 
nent, of  buffaloes,  273. 

Horse,  ancestors  of  the,  213,  261  ; 
genealogy  of  the,  267  ;  mouth 
of  the,  259  ;  no  true  wild  living, 
265  ;  structure  of  the,  259,  266. 

Horses  unite  for  protection,  268. 

Howler-monkeys,  246. 

Humming-birds,  lovely  nests  of,  167. 

Humpback  whale  suckling  her  young, 

319. 

Huxley  on  Ichthyopsidaand  Saurop- 
sida,  129. 

Hyaena,  in  glacial  times  of  Eng- 
land, 342  ;  teeth  and  claws  of 
the,  290. 

ICE,    covering    Northern    Europe, 

342- 

Ichneumon,  killing  the  cobra,  12 1  ; 
the  Egyptian,  281. 

Ichthyodorulites  of  the  Silurian,  38. 

Ichthyopsida,  fish  and  amphibia,  129. 

Ichthyornis,  130  ;  figured,  123. 

Ichthyosaurus,  89,  92. 

Iguanas  or  tree-lizards,  1 06. 

Iguanodon,  89,  93. 

Imperfect-toothed  animals,  or  Eden- 
tata, early  history  of,  201. 


INDEX. 


361 


Insect-eater,  skull  and  teeth  of,  217. 

Insect-eaters,  a  group  of,  220 ;  small- 
sized  animals,  215  ;  and  rodents 
compared,  239 ;  absent  from 
South  America,  230. 

Instincts,  interest  of  in  theoiy  of 
development,  347. 

Invertebrata  and  their  limits,  4-6,  9. 

Isinglass  from  sturgeon,  32. 

JACAMARS  of  America,  168. 
Jackals,    hunting    in    packs,    285  ; 

ancestors  of  the  dog,  286. 
Jaguar,  feeding   on   tortoise,    loo ; 

habits  and  range  of  the,   292  ; 

and  ant-bear,  205. 
Japan,  gigantic  salamander  of,  78  ; 

monkeys  in,  241. 
Jaw,  movement  of,  in  flesh-feeders, 

289  ;  in  vegetable- feeders,  259  ; 

of  snake,  119;  distensible,  114. 
Jerboas  of  Africa,  225. 
Jumping  shrews,  225. 

KANGAROO-RATS,  195. 
Kangaroos,  193  ;  strength  of,  194. 
Kentucky  caves,  blind  fish  of,  68. 
Kaola,  or  native  bear  of  Australia, 

193,  195- 

Killer- whale,  voracity  of  the,  325. 

Kingfisher,  166 ;  a  darting  bird,  167. 

"  King  of  the  Herrings,"  41. 

Knob,  on  bird's  beak  for  shell- 
breaking,  143  ;  on  nose  of  baby 
platypus,  190. 

LABYRINTHODONTS,  age  of,  337  ; 
of  the  coal-forests,  84. 

Lakes,  fish-eggs  carried  to,  66. 

Lamprey,  and  young,  16  ;  breathing 
organ  of,  17;  teeth  of,  17,  19, 
37;  metamorphosis  of  the,  19. 

Lampris  luna,  sun-fish,  53. 

Lancelet,  structure  of  the,  1 1. 

Land-birds,  their  enemies  and  diffi- 
culties, 154-156. 

Lark,  nest  of  the,  170. 


Legs,  of  a  bird,  construction  of,  127  ; 

vestiges  of,  in  snakes,  no. 
Leidy  cited,  212. 
Lemming,    strange    migrations    of, 

225. 
Lemurs,  244  ;   position  and  habits 

of,  243. 

Lepidosteus  or  bony  pike,  33. 
Life,  gradual  development  of,  4. 
Light-giving  deep-sea  fishes,  47. 
Lion  fighting  with  a  buffalo,  274  ; 

formerly  in  England,  291  ;  habits 

and  range  of  the,  291. 
Lizard,  skeleton  of  a,  103  ;  structure 

and  habits  of,  104  ;  can  live  in 

unhealthy    places,    104  ;    flying, 

1  06  ;    legless    and    snake  -like, 

107. 
London,  hippopotamus  bones  under, 

263. 

Lories,  the  lemurs  of  India,  243. 
Love,  gradual  development  of  par- 

ental,   348-350;  a  reigning  law 

of  life,  353. 

Lumpsucker  clinging  to  rock,  58. 
Lungs,  of  frog,  76  ;  of  the  snake, 


MACHAIRODUS  or  sabre  -  toothed 
tiger,  291  ;  figured,  333. 

Mackerel  going  in  to  spawn,  55. 

Madagascar,  true  lemurs  of,  243. 

Magpie's  nest,  170. 

Mammalia  or  milk-givers,  divisions 
of  the,  182;  distribution  of, 
340  ;  aquatic,  300  ;  extinction  of 
large,  341  ;  sudden  appearance 
of  higher,  211. 

Mammoth,  the  hairy,  279. 

Man,  after  Glacial  Period,  343  ; 
among  animals  ncnv  extinct,  333  ; 
exterminating  wild  animals,  344. 

Manatee  or  sea-cow  grazing,  315; 
relationship  of,  303. 

Mandrill,  the  lowest  baboon,  250. 

Manis  or  pangolin,  202  ;  structure 
and  habits  of,  203. 


362 


THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


Marmosets,  monkeys  of  South 
America,  245. 

Marmot,  a  burrowing  rodent,  225. 

Marsh,  Prof.,  his  collection  of  rep- 
tile remains,  339;  cited,  212; 
on  Dinocerata,  260. 

Marsupials,  jaws  of  earliest  known, 
183;  breathing  of  infant,  192  ;  of 
Australia,  past  history  of  the,  185; 
early  appearance  of,  337;  playing 
the  part  of  higher  animals,  196  ; 
structure  and  habits  of,  192-199. 

Mastodon,  a  four-tusked  elephant, 
279  J  figured,  256. 

Megalosaurus,  93  ;  figured,  89. 

Megapodes,  mound-building  birds, 

159. 

Megatheria,  huge  ancient  ground- 
sloths,  202,  206,  208. 

Metamorphosis  of  the  frog,  73-76. 

Mexico,  iguanas  of,  106. 

Micro 'lestes,  tooth  of,  183. 

Migration,  of  birds,  142,  151,  155, 
177,  348;  of  lemmings,  225. 

Milk -givers  are  viviparous,  185  ; 
earliest  origin  of,  191  ;  extinc- 
tion of  large,  341  ;  home  of  the 
early,  181  ;  sudden  appearance 
of  higher,  211  ;  taking  to  the 
water,  300. 

Miller's  thumbs,  65. 

Minnow,  breathing  apparatus  of  the, 
22  ;  inner  and  outer  structure  of 
the,  23-26  ;  intelligence  of,  26  ; 
spinal  cord  of,  23,  26. 

Moa  of  New  Zealand,  140. 

Mole,  220  ;  enemies  of  the,  224  ; 
structure  and  habits  of,  223. 

Mole-rats,  burrowing  rodents,  226. 

Monitors  of  Africa,  105. 

Monkeys,  247  ;  advantage  of  tree- 
life  to,  251  ;  almost  confined  to 
hot  countries,  241  ;  grasping 
hands  and  feet  of,  241  ;  intelli- 
gence of,  248  ;  origin  of,  240  ; 
of  America,  245  ;  of  the  Old 
World,  characters  of,  248. 


Monk-fish,  41. 

Moor-hen,  intelligence  of  the,  151. 

Mosasaurus,  92  ;  figured,  89. 

Motmots  of  America,  168. 

Mound-building  birds,  158. 

Mucous  scales  offish,  23,  27. 

Mud-fish  and  their  breathing,  33. 

Mud-tortoises.  102. 

Mullets,  feeding,  57. 

Musquash,  a  swimming  rodent, 
227. 

Myrmecobius,  an  insect-eating  mar- 
supial, 195  ;  like  the  ancient 
marsupials,  198. 

"  Native  Devil"  or  Dasytirus,  197. 
Nervous  system  of  vertebrata,  8. 
Nest  of  the  common  wren,  171  ;  of 

duck-billed  platypus,  188. 
Nest  -building    birds,     168  -  173  ; 

gradual  progress  of,    156,    160, 

165,  167,  170,  173. 
Nests,    edible,    of   China    swiftlet, 

167  ;    inland,    of  wading  birds, 

I5I- 

Nnvts,  78. 

New  Zealand,  wingless  birds  of,  140. 

Nightjar  hunting  for  prey,  167. 

Nile,  crocodile  of  the,  108  ;  mud- 
fish of  the,  33. 

Norway,  lemmings  of,  225. 

Nostrils  of  fish,  27. 

Notochord  of  the  lancelet,  12. 

Nototrema  frog,  with  a  pouch  for 
young,  87. 

Nut-hatch,  a  climberamongperchers, 
172. 

Opossums,  200  ;  habits  of  198  ; 
why  surviving  in  South  America, 
197-199  :  their  relation  to  Aus- 
tralian marsupials,  198. 

Orangutan  or  mias,  252. 

Orca  or  grampus,  a  flesh-feeding 
whale,  325. 

Ornithorhynchus,  and  its  home,  1 88 ; 
bill  and  feet  of,  1 89  ;  structure 


INDEX. 


363 


of  the,  190;  the  lowest  milk- 
giver,  191. 

Osprey,  the  sea-eagle,  177. 

Ostrich  at  full  speed,  137  ;  struc- 
ture and  habits  of,  138. 

Otter,  common,  301  ;  sea-,  302. 

Owen,  Prof.,  on  a  reptile  like  platy- 
pus, 190;  on  advantage  of  pouch 
to  marsupials,  193. 

Owl,  adapted  for  night -hunt  ing, 
176. 

Owl-monkeys,  246. 

Oystercatchers,  wading  birds,  148. 

PADDLE-FINS  of  mud-fish,  35,  38. 

Paleotheriiim,  209  ;  one  of  the  an- 
cestors of  tapirs  and  rhinoceroses, 
213,  261. 

Pallas  cited,  II. 

Pangolins,  structure  and  habits  of, 
203. 

Paraguay,  rheas  of,  139. 

Parker,  Prof.  Kitchen,  on  evolution, 
191;  on  origin  of  mammalia,  191. 

Parkyn,  Mr.,  on  baboons,  249. 

Parrots,  using  beak  in  climbing, 
165. 

Partridges,  ground-nesters,  156. 

Peccaries  of  South  America,  263. 

Peewit  or  lapwing,  148. 

Pelican,  perches  on  trees,  148. 

Penguin,  home  of  the,  147  ;  swim- 
ming wings  of  the,  146. 

Perch,  climbing,  66. 

Perching  birds,  168-173;  aquatic 
bird  among,  172  ;  bird  of  prey 
among,  172  ;  climbers  among, 
172;  darters  among,  172; 
ground-feeders  among,  170. 

Petrel,  home  of  the  stormy,  145. 

Phalanger,  a  flying,  193,  195- 

Pheasants,  ground-nesters,,  156. 

Phosphorescent,  fish,  47,  48  ;  fluid, 
50- 

Pigeons,  beginners  in  nest-building, 
1 60  ;  crop  of,  1 6 1  ;  passenger, 
162. 


Pike,  65. 

Pilot-fish  accompanying  shark,  52. 

Pipistrelle  the  common  bat,  236. 

Plates,  horny,  in  duck's  bill,  142  ;  in 
bill  of  Ornithorhynchus,  1 88;  in 
mouth  of  whale,  328 ;  under  the 
snake's  body,  used  in  walking,  1 1 2. 

Platypus,  1 88  ;  knob  on  nose  of 
baby,  190. 

Plesiosaurus,  92  ;  figured,  89. 

Plovers,  wading  birds,  148  ;  drag- 
ging the  wing,  151. 

Pocket-mice  of  North  America,  215. 

Poison  of  snakes  a  concentration  of 
a  substance  found  in  ordinary 
saliva,  119. 

Poisonous  snakes,  117-121. 

Polar  bear,  walrus  fighting  the,  309. 

Polypterus  or  bichir,  33. 

Porcupine,  221  ;  structure  and 
habits  of,  222  ;  tree,  222. 

Porpoise,  323  ;  good  type  of  whales, 

324- 

Pouch-bearers,  see  Marsupials. 

Pouched-rats,  burrowing  rodents, 
226. 

Prairie-dogs,  burrowing  rodents,22  5. 

Protective,  colours,  347  ;  smells  in 
animals,  347. 

Proteus  of  Carniola  caverns,  79. 

Protopterus  of  the  Nile,  33. 

Protorosaurus  earliest  known  rep- 
tile, 91. 

Ptarmigan,  white  plumage  of,  157. 

Pterodactyls  or  flying  reptiles,  93  ; 
figured,  89. 

Pterygotus  and  early  fish,  37  ;  fig- 
ured, 20. 

Puff-birds  of  America,  168. 

Puffin  Island,  sea-birds  of,  142. 

Puffins,  144  ;  laying  eggs  in  cliff- 
holes,  142. 

Puma,  range  and  habits  of  the,  292. 

Pythons  crushing  their  prey,  117. 

QUADRATE  BONE,  absent  in  milk- 
givers,  191  ;  giving  a  wide  gape 


364 


THE  WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


to  the  snake,  114  ;  in  bird,  126  ; 

in  lizard,  103;  in  snake,  in. 
Quadrumana,  use  of  term,  242. 
Quails,  scratching  birds,  157. 
Queensland,  Ceratodus  0/j  34. 

RATS,  intelligence  of,  230. 

Rattlesnake  feeding  on  "  Prairie 
dogs,"  225  ;  horny  plates  of  the, 
1 1 8  ;  jaw  of  the,  119. 

Rays,  manner  of  feeding  of,  42. 

Red  deer  "with  branching  antlers, 
272. 

Remora  carried  by  shark,  5 1 . 

Reptiles,  abound  in  warm  countries, 
90;  age  of  the  great,  339;  care 
for  their  young,  122  ;  disappear- 
ance of  ancient,  94,  2 1 1  ;  flying, 
of  olden  times,  93 ;  huge,  of 
ancient  times,  91,  94;  in  their 
palmy  days,  89  ;  lay  their  eggs 
on  land,  90 ;  linked  in  structure 
with  birds,  129 ;  modern,  94-122. 

Rheas,  three-toed  ostriches,  139. 

Rhinoceros,  absence  of  upper  teeth 
in,  265  ;  horn  made  of  matted 

,  hair,  264  ;  embedded  in  ice, 
265. 

Rhytinas  in  Behring's  Straits,  316. 

Ribbon  fish,  49. 

Ribs  of  lizard,  97,  103  ;  of  snake, 
used  in  walking,  112;  of  tor- 
toise, forming  the  shell,  99. 

River-fish,  46,  64. 

River-tortoises,  101. 

Roach,  65. 

Rodent,  skull  of,  217  ;  teeth  of,  216. 

Rodents  or  gnawers,  215  ;  affinity 
of  elephants  to,  276  ;  generally 
small  and  weak,  215  ;  a  gi-oup 
of,  221;  and  insect-eaters  com- 
pared, 239. 

Rollers,  darting  birds  of  the  East, 
1 68. 

Rooks,  nests  of,  170. 

Rorqual,  short  whalebones  of,  326. 

Rough  hound,  28. 


Round-mouthed  fishes,  16. 
Ruminants,  characters  of  the,  259  ; 

wide  spread  of,  269. 
Running  birds,  136-140. 
Russia,  sturgeon  in,  32. 

SALAMANDER,  gigantic,  of  Japan, 
78;  black,  viviparous,  81. 

Salamandra  atra,  viviparous,  8 1. 

Salmon  going  up  river  to  spawn,  64. 

Sandpipers,  wading  birds,  148. 

Sauropsida,  birds  and  lizards,  129. 

Scales  of  bony  fish  and  mud -fish, 
45  ;  of  fish,  27  ;  of  snakes  em- 
bedded in  the  skin,  1 1 1. 

Scaly  lizard  is  viviparous,  105. 

Scoresby,  on  walrus  killing  narwhal, 
309  ;  on  whale-mothers  defend- 
ing their  young,  330  ;  on  whale 
spouting,  321. 

Sea,  chief  home  of  fish,  46. 

Sea-birds,  142-150;  a  groiip  oj, 
144. 

Sea  -  cows,  relationship  of,  303  ; 
their  structure  and  habits,  315. 

Sea-horse,  a  fish,  63. 

Sea -lion,  and  common  seal,  306  ; 
skeleton  of  a,  304  ;  structure  of, 
305  ;  range  of,  306. 

Sea-lions  on  the  Aleutian  Isles,  310; 
fighting  for  wives,  311. 

Seals,  breathing  apparatus  of,  308  ; 
how  adapted  for  a  sea-life,  307  ; 
on  English  coasts,  303  ;  origin 
°f>  3°3  »  structure  and  range  of, 

313..3M- 

Seal-skin,  how  prepared,  308. 
Sea-otter,  structure  of  the,  301. 
Sea-squirt,  growth  of  a,  14. 
Sea-squirts,  anomalous  position  of, 

IS- 

Sea-tortoises  coming  on  land  to  lay 

eggs,  102. 
Secretary    bird    killing    poisonous 

snakes,   121. 

Self-sacrifice,  a  law  of  life,  352. 
Sentinels  placed  by  animals,  269. 


INDEX. 


365 


Shark  carrying  remora,  5 1  ;  accom- 
panied by  pilot-fish,  52  ;  eggs,  28, 
42  ;  external  gills  of  embryo,  73. 

Sharks,  history  of  the,  41  ;  their 
structure,  28-30. 

Sheat-fish,  fathers  carrying  eggs  in 
the  mouth,  65. 

Sheep  and  goats,  range  of,  274. 

Shell  of  tortoise,  how  formed,  98. 

Shields  of  the  crocodile,  108. 

Shrike,  a  perching  bird  of  prey,  1 72. 

Shrew  and  harvest-mouse  compared, 
218. 

Silver  Pit,  soles  living  in  the,  63. 

Siren,  a  gill-breather,  80. 

Sirenia,  name  for  sea-cows,  315* 

Skates,  flat  bodies  of,  41  ;  purse- 
egg's  of,  42. 

Skeleton,  of  bat,  233;  bird,  126; 
wild  ass,  266  ;  lizard,  103  ;  sea- 
lion,  304 ;  snake,  in;  tortoise, 
98  ;  whale,  318. 

Skeletons  of  deep-sea  fish,  49. 

Skulls  of  rodent  and  insectivore, 
217. 

Skye,  walrus  seen  off,  310. 

Slime  on  fish  causing  phosphor- 
escence, 50. 

Sloths  hanging  from  a  tree,  200  ; 
structure  and  habits  of,  206. 

Slowworm,  a  legless  lizard,  107. 

Smooth  hound,  28. 

Snake,  affection  in  a,  349  ;  casting 
its  skin,  1 1 6  ;  common  ringed, 
113  ;  cup  and  ball  joints  of  the, 
112,  114;  eggs,  116;  enemies 
of  the,  117;  food  of  the  common 
116  ;  mode  of  swallowing  prey, 
114;  skeleton  of  a,  in  ;  coiling 
round  prey,  117;  nature  of  poison 
of,  119;  poisonous  sea-,  121. 

Snapping  turtle,  101. 

Sole,  history  of  its  growth,  62 ; 
young  and  old,  61. 

Song  of  birds,  how  caused,  169. 

Sparrow,  125  ;  skeleton  of,  126. 

Spawning  of  lampreys,  1 8, 


Spermaceti  in  head  of  whale,  326. 
Sperm    whale,    327  ;    its    structure 

and  habits,  325  ;  taking  breath, 

322. 

Spider  monkeys,  246. 
Spinal   cord,  of  lamprey,    17;    of 

the  lance  let,    1 2  ;  of  shark,  30  ; 

of  vertebrata,  9. 
Spines,  of  hedgehog  and  porcupine, 

222  ;  of  sharks,  29,  38. 
Spinous  processes,  of  lizard,    103  ; 

of  snake,  1 1 1  ;  of  tortoise,  98. 
Squirrels,  enemies  of  the,  231  ;  fly- 
ing,   231  ;    tree -loving  rodents, 

230. 
Stickleback    father    defending    the 

young,  65. 

Sticklebacks  and  their  nest,  65. 
Sting-rays,  42. 
Stomias,  a  deep-sea  fish,  48. 
Storks,  migrations  of,  I$i. 
Struggle   for  existence,   developing 

sympathy,    35 1  j   improving   the 

herbivora,  282. 
Sturgeon  entering  a  river,  3 1  ;  first 

appearance    of    the,    41  ;    head 

and  mouth  of,^z;  structure  of, 

32- 

Sucking-fish  or  remora,  51. 
Sun-fish  with  large  air-bladder,  53. 
Surinam    toad,    carrying    young  in 

hollows  of  the  skin,  87. 
Swallow,     a     darter     among     the 

perchers,  172. 
Swans,  range  of  wild,  142. 
Swifts,  darting  birds,  167  ;  in  East 

build  nests  with  saliva,  167. 
Sword-fish,  Xiphias,  55. 

Tadpole,  life  and  changes  of ,  72-76  ; 
ofsalamandra  atra,  8 1 ;  summary 
of  changes  in  the,  335. 

Taguan  or  flying  squirrel,  231. 

Tail,  jointed,  of  ancient  land-bird, 
130  ;  of  minnow,  24;  homocercal 
and  heterocercal,  30 ;  of  bony  fish, 
45  ;  of  sharks  and  sturgeon,  30. 


366 


THE   WINNERS  IN  LIFE'S  RACE. 


Tailor  bird's  nest,  173. 

Tallegallus,  mound-building  birds, 
158. 

Tapirs,  past  and  present  range  of, 
264. 

Tasmanian  marsupials,  197. 

Teeth  as  defences,  260  ;  in  jaws  of 
ancient  birds,  130  ;  of  American 
monkeys,  246  ;  of  Old  World 
monkeys,  248  ;  of  ancient  type 
of  fish,  35,  38,  39  ;  of  lamprey, 
X7>  I9>  37  >  °f  rodents  and 
insect-eaters,  217;  of  snake  used 
in  holding,  115;  of  snake  are  its 
poison  fangs,  1 19. 

Tenrecs  of  Madagascar,  216. 

Termites,  ant-bear  feeding  on,  205. 

Tern,  black-winged,  144. 

Terrapins  or  box-tortoises,  101. 

Testudo  Graca,  96. 

Thresher-shark,  28. 

Thrush,  nest  of  the  song-,  1 70. 

Thuringian  lizard,    earliest  reptile, 

91- 
Tiger,    287  ;    claws    of  the,    289 ; 

man  fighting  the  sabre-toothed, 

33 3>  343  5    range  and  habits   of 

the,   292;    sabre-toothed,    290; 

structure  of  the,  288. 
Tiger  wolf  or  Thylacinus,  197. 
Tinamous,  a  group  between  running 

birds  and  ground  birds,  156. 
Toad,  habits  of  the,  85. 
Todies  of  America,  168. 
Toe-thumbs  in  opossums,  dormouse 

and  monkey,  242. 
Tongue  of  frog,    77  ;    of  snake   a 

harmless  organ    of  touch,    112, 

1 1 8,  119;    of  the  woodpecker, 

164. 

Torpedo-fish,  42. 
Tortoise,  back  of  a  young,  99  ;  Greek, 

96  ;  structure  and  habits  of,  95- 

100. 
Tortoises,  gigantic  land,  101  ;   mud 

and  sea,  1 02. 
Tortoise-shell,  97. 


Toucans,  climbing-birds,  165. 
Tree-frogs,  86,  87. 
Trilobites  with  the  early  fish,  37. 
Trunk  of  the  elephant,  277. 
Tunny,  a  fish  without  air-bladder, 

53- 

Turkeys,  scratching  birds,  157. 
Turnstones,  wading  birds,  148. 
Turtles,  101,  102. 
Tusks,  as  weapons,   260,   263  ;  of 

the  elephant,    276  ;   wanting  in 

early  forms,  260. 

UNEVEN-TOED  ANIMALS,  origin  of, 

265. 
Ungulata,  or  hoofed  animals,  257. 

VAMPIRES  in  South  America,  237. 
Vegetable-feeders,  see  Herbivora. 
Vertebrata,   advantages  of  the,   7  ; 

spinal  cord  of  the,  9. 
Viper,       common    English,     121 ; 

killed  by  the  buzzard,  1 20. 
Viscacha  of  South  America,  225. 
Vultures,  scavengers  of  the   earth, 

174. 

Wading  birds,  a  group  of,  149. 

Walking  fish,  57. 

Wallace,  Mr.  A.  R.,  bitten  by  bats, 
237 ;  on  colugo,  232  ;  on  mound- 
building  birds,  159;  on  orang- 
utan, 252  ;  on  separation  of 
Australasia,  186. 

Walrus,  294  ;  structure,  home,  arid 
habits  of  the,  309. 

Wart-hogs  of  Africa,  263. 

Water-birds,  the  earliest  known, 
123  ;  structure  of,  141. 

Water-mole,  188. 

Water-ouzel  or  dipper,  172. 

Water-rat  and  water-shrew,  219. 

Weasel,  a  small  flesh-feeder,  280. 

Weevers,  spined  fish,  58. 

Whale,  breathing  apparatus  of, 
321  ;  skeleton  of  whalebone,  318  j 
suckling  her  young,  319;  ancient 


INDEX. 


367 


origin  of,  303  ;  a  warm-blooded 
mammal,  317;  kept  warm  by 
blubber,  320  ;  long  life  of,  331  ; 
parasites  on,  331. 

Whalebone,  nature  of,  328. 

Whiskers  of  tiger  are  feelers,  289. 

White     animal     tints     in    winter, 

347- 
Wild    duck,    strokes    of    wing   of, 

134- 
Wing,  rapid  strokes  of  a  bird's,  134; 

structure  of  a  bird's,  127. 
Wing-feathers,  hooklets  on,  133. 
Wings  of  a  bat,  how  formed,  233. 
Wolf,  affection  of  a,  286  ;  ancestor 

of  the  dog,  286;  dog -like  form 

and  teeth  of,   283  ;   structure   of, 


284  ;  the  only  social  tribe  of  car- 

nivora,  286. 

Wombat,  197  ;  a  marsupial,  195. 
Woodpecker,  the  great  green,    163  ; 

tongue  of,  164. 
Wood-pigeon  on  her  nest,  1 60. 
Woolly  monkey  and  child,  247. 
Worm,  compared  to  the  lancelet, 

13- 

Wren,  common,  nest  of,  171. 
Wryneck,  172. 

Xiphodon,  210;  ancestor  of  the 
antlered  animals,  213;  ancestor 
of  ruminants,  261, 

YAPOCK,  300. 


17 


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Illustrations . — The  illustrations  are  beautiful  and  attractive,  and  are  wel 
adapted  to  serve  as  a  basis  for  the  language  and  thought  lessons  that  are  so 
prominent  in  these  books. 

Helps  for  Teachers.— Teachers  will  find  in  these  books  a  simple  plan  that 
will  greatly  aid  them  ;  while  the  notes,  questions,  and  suggestions  will  help  the 
teacher  to  impart  the  most  instruction  and  the  best  culture,  which  makes  the 
reading-lesson  something  more  than  a  mere  naming  of  words. 

Oral  Beading. — Proper  oral  expression  depends  on  the  sense.  Get  the  sense 
of  each  extract  and  the  correct  oral  expression  will  be  an  easy  matter.  This  is 
the  key-note  to  Professor  Bailey's  excellent  lessons  on  accent,  emphasis,  inflec 
tion,  and  general  vocal  expression,  that  are  placed  as  reading-lessons  in  the 
Third,  Fourth,  and  Fifth  Readers. 

Selections.— The  selections  embrace  gems  of  literature  from  leading  authors. 
No  other  Readers  include  such  a  wide  range  of  thought,  showing  from  the  eim 
pie  stories  for  children  in  the  earlier  books,  to  the  extracts  from  the  best  authors 
in  the  Fourth  and  Fifth,  unity  of  design  and  a  just  appreciation  of  the  needs  ol 
our  schools. 

Great  Success.— Since  the  publication  of  these  Readers,  their  ealehas  aver- 
aged nearly  a  million  a  year,  which  is  unprecedented  in  the  sale  of  school-books. 

Endorsements.— These  Readers  have  received  the  endorsement  of  nearly 
every  educator  of  note  in  the  United  States,  but  the  best  proof  of  their  merits  lg 
found  in  the  great  improvement  manifested  everywhere  they  are  used. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

New  York,  Boston,  Chicago,  and  San  Francisco. 


P  RIMERS 

Jri  Science,  History,  art&  Literature,. 

18mo Flexible  cloth,  45  cents  each. 


SCIENCE    PRIMERS. 
Edited  by  Professors  HUXLEY,  ROSCOE,  and  BALFOtIK  STEWART. 


Introductory.  Prof.  T.  H.  HUX- 
LEY, F.  R.  S. 

Chemistry.  Prof.  H.  E.  ROSCOE, 
F.  R.  S. 

Physics.  Prof.  BALFOUR  STEWART, 
F.  R.  S. 

Physical  Geography.  Prof.  A. 
GEIKIE,  F.  R.  S. 

Geology.    Prof.  A.  GEIKIE,  F.  R.  S. 

Physiology.  M.  FOSTER,  M.  D., 
F.  R.  S. 


Astronomy.  J.  N.  LOCKYER,  F.  R.  S. 

Botany.     Sir  J.  D.  HOOKER,  F.  R.  S. 

Logic.    Prof.  W.  S.  JEVONP,  F.  R.  S. 

Inventional  Geometry.  W.  G. 
SPENCER. 

Pianoforte.    FRANKLIN  TAYLOR. 

Political  Economy.  Prof.  W.  S. 
JEVONS,  F.  R.  S. 

Natural  Resources  of  the  Uni- 
ted States.  J  H.  PATTON,  A.  M. 


HISTORY    PRIMERS. 

Edited  by  J.  R.  GREEN,  M.  A.,  Examiner  in  the  School  of  Modern  History  at 
Oxford. 


Greece.    C.  A.  FYFFE,  M.  A. 
Rome.    M.  CBEIGHTON,  M.  A. 
Europe.    E.  A.  FREEMAN,  D.  C.  L. 
Old  Greek  Life.    J.  P.  MAHAFFY, 
M.A. 


Roman  Antiquities.    Prof.  A.  S. 

WILKINS. 
Geography.  GEORGE  GROVE, 

F.  R.  G.  S. 
France.  CHARLOTTE  M.  YONGE. 


LITERATURE     PRIMERS. 
Edited  by  J.  R.  GREEN,  M.  A. 
R.  MORRIS, 


Prof.   R.  C. 


English  Grammar. 
LL.D. 

English    Literature.     Rev.  STOP- 
FORD  A.  BROOKE,  M.  A. 

Philology.    J.  PEILE,  M.  A. 

Classical    Geography.        M.    F. 
TOZER. 

Shakespeare.    Prof.  E.  DOWDEN. 

Studies  in  Bryant.    J.  ALDEN. 

(Others  in  preparation.) 

The  object  of  these  primers  is  to  convey  information  in  such  a  manner  as 
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woodcuts  which  illustrate  them  embellish  and  explain  the  text  at  the  same  time. 


Greek    Literature. 
JEBB. 

English  Grammar  Exercises. 
R.  MORRIS,  LL.D.,  and  H.  C.  BOW- 
EN,  M.  A. 

Homer.  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  GLAD- 
STONE. 

English  Composition.  Prof.  J. 
NICHOL. 


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